


Matoki Signal

by SevenCandlesticks



Category: B.A.P, Secret (Korea Band), TWICE (Band)
Genre: Aliens, Comedy, Matoki - Freeform, Some Action, Some Fluff, but there is a tiny bit of lighthearted romance, light fantasy elements, mato, minor anime refs here and there, other Kpop artists show up later, platonic OT6, scifi, slice-of-life, very friendship focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-06-14 01:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15377337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevenCandlesticks/pseuds/SevenCandlesticks
Summary: Park Jihyo is on a mission; to make contact with aliens! Such a vast universe with billions of planets couldn't possibly not harbour any life on them, right?Despite ridicule from everyone else, including her own best friends, she pressed forward with her makeshift station, TWICE--designed to send signals out into space.And on Day 101, she managed to make contact with an alien general called Tatsmato.





	1. Prologue: I Am Here

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little project I began writing for fun when I had a cold, but it developed into so much more (it'll have 3 related stories after it). I hope you enjoy this fun story with a few surprises along the way!
> 
> This story takes heavy basis from the fictional backstory of B.A.P being aliens from the planet Mato and will make some references to Tah-Dah, It's B.A.P! It is also loosely inspired by TWICE's song "Signal". It will incorporate other fictional backstories/concepts from a few other Kpop artists who show up down the line. All this complete with my own little twists and liberties woven in. 
> 
> I am slowly bringing it here to AO3. If you cannot wait for updates, it is also available at Asian Fanfics.

It was past midnight that night. A young woman was alone in her apartment, sitting at her desk with the only light being the desk lamp beside her. Intense static could be heard pumping out of her headphones as she did many adjustments to the frequencies. Set upon this desk was a laptop, radio equipment, a mic, and a whole mess of wires. 

  
This was TWICE Radio. 

  
What was its purpose? To make contact with life on other planets. Now, while it does seem rather silly that a little makeshift radio station such as this would even have half the capacity to send a signal to the next town, much less space, that didn't stop Park Jihyo. She was _determined_ to prove to all the people who made fun of her, all the people who called her crazy and a time waster, wrong. Simple as that. Or...not so simple. Because in fact, Jihyo was very passionate about her beliefs, she knew that such a vast universe couldn't just have one, meesly planet populated when there are literally _billions_ (if not more) other planets that could be inhabited!  
There was so much to discover, she thought. So much we don't know and don't understand, and if nobody else was curious or brave enough to find out, then she'd do it herself. End of story!

  
"This is TWICE sending a signal!"

  
She spoke into the mic confidently, typing in coordinates into some program she designed on her laptop while softly humming to the static in her ears as if it were pleasant music.

  
"This is TWICE, a station on Earth, sending a signal!"

  
Today marked the 100th day she had been at it. By day, she was a cashier at a local convenience store and by night, she was a space and alien enthusiast. Despite going night after night with no answer, this in no way detered Jihyo from trying. "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again," she said to herself, that famous saying which she had adopted as her own motto. 

  
Her continuous rhythmic flow was interrupted by a text notification on her phone. You'd think she wouldn't pay attention or even hear such a thing, but her eyes had just happened to land on her phone at that exact moment, so there was no pretending she simply missed it.

  
With a sigh of irritation, Jihyo picked up the phone to find that the text was from her friend Jeongyeon that read;

  
{ Hey Jihyo! I haven't heard back from you all week, is everything alright? I was wondering if you'd like to catch up at a cafe with me and Mina this weekend. }

  
Rolling her eyes, she typed in reply, "It's not in the evening, is it?"

  
Almost instantly, the next response came in;

  
{ Don't tell me you're still at your silly experiment. }

  
Jihyo's cheeks puffed up hotly with a severe pout. She nearly wanted to smash her phone, but composed herself, replying, "Then don't hang out with me."

Setting her phone down hard enough to cause an audible  _thud,_ Jihyo went back to her programming and adjusting and listening for any response from the vastness of space....that is, if her signal was even going out that far. 

  
"Honestly, what's she doing up at this hour anyway?"

  
Suddenly, there was a loud knocking on her door. Jihyo jumped in startlement, nearly losing her balance and falling off of her chair as she turned. Considering the eerie atmosphere of the dark, the empty static, and the fact she was alone wasn't helping the situation.

  
...until the voice on the otherside spoke.

  
"Jihyo! Park Jihyo! Open up, it's Jeongyeon!"

  
"Oh, just you..." Jihyo shrugged and immediately got back to work, ignoring the persistent knocking.  
Jeongyeon, on the otherhand, was becoming impatient. With a groaning sigh, she turned around, punching in Jihyo's number. She could hear the ring on the otherside of the door, indicating she was indeed at home.... 

  
....obviously ignoring her by letting the phone ring off the hook.

  
"Ugh, that Jihyo!" she seethed, kicking her friend's door loud enough to not only hurt her foot, but possibly wake up some of the neighbors.  
"It's no use. Let's just leave her be for now." said Mina, who happened to be accompanying her. 

  
"Leave her? Mina, she's been shutting us out for more than a week! I'm worried about her! She's too caught up in all this...alien stuff. Have you seen her radio station?!"

  
"You mean Project TWICE?"

  
"Yeah, that! Scientists with their ridiculously advanced and expensive equipment haven't had any luck with life beyond our atmosphere, what makes her think she will?"

  
Mina sighed. "I know, but aren't you being a little too aggressive? You're pushing her away by acting like this."

  
"Maybe you're right...."

  
"Here..." Mina gently pushed Jeongyeon and knocked on the door. "Jihyo? It's Mina. We brought you some food!" she held up a bag of snacks they had bought from the nearby convenience store. "I'm just going to leave this here, okay?"

  
Mina gently set the plastic down in front of her doorstep, gesturing for Jeongyeon to follow her away. The two of them left with footsteps loud enough to let Jihyo know the coast was clear. Once she was certain of this, she quickly got out of her seat and opened the door, checking both sides to make sure her friends wouldn't ambush her. 

  
Her eyes fell upon the rather stuffed bag of goodies her friends had left for her. She took it, shut the door, and dug inside of it. Rice balls, instant ramen, strawberry milk, even a few little cute trinkets for her to play with. Jihyo sadly sighed, leaning against the door and sliding down into a crouched position.  
  


_All my life, I've been captivated by the stars. Staring up into that wonderous sky the first time I was away from the city lights captured my heart and I couldn't let it go. It was the first time in my life I felt so small, so insignificant, yet at the same time..._

  
_....I also felt special that I could experience such a magical sight. And I always wondered if anyone out there thought the same, searching for something else among the stars. I always wondering if across the galaxy there was another small, insignificant somebody, whose heart was captured like that. Maybe I could meet them one day._

  
_Because here on Earth, I've found nobody else who thinks that. There is nobody else with the same wonder and curiousity. Everyone always told me I was crazy, infected by stardust. No matter if there really are aliens or not, I felt truly alone. Like Haruhi Suzumiya, I wanted to send a signal saying "I am here"._


	2. CH1: One Hundred-and-First Day

 

* * *

 

"Thank you for coming!"

Jihyo shouted this cheerfully to the customer whom just left with their purchases. She was feeling extremely good right now, why? Because she would be going home in about a half hour!

One of the final things she had to do was check how much money was in the register before switching her shift with the employee scheduled after her.

"Tonight's the night," she said to herself, shuffling through a wad of wons. It was something she always said to herself regarding her TWICE project. That is, her "radio station" sending signals to space.

Once everything in the register was accounted for, as soon as she saw her fellow employee walk through the door, Jihyo ripped off her name tag and grabbed her purse, running through those automatic doors! Well, of course she was polite and did say "I'm leaving now" as she dashed off.

Today marked the 101st day of the TWICE project. From 8PM 'till often past midnight, Jihyo would broadcast, calling out for any intelligent life to answer back. So far, she's had zero luck, but that didn't dampen her spirits. With sheer optimism, she was going to keep going at it until she's made contact with aliens!

First off, it was only 5PM. Rest was important--it was going to be a long night, after all. She would start by relaxing with a snack before taking a few hour nap so she was well rested for the broadcast. This has been her routine for a hundred days so far, and it would be her routine for a hundred more if need be.

...until she decides to break it.

As she sat alone on her sofa, eating one of the rice balls her friends had brought over last night, her eyes were immediately drawn to her broadcasting desk. The laptop sat there, opened, flashing random images as its screensaver. There was the mic with her headphones beside it, and the soundboard, and all the other equipment. Below on the floor was an entangled mess of wires that has been a miracle she hasn't slipped on yet. It was as if her desk was calling to her, begging to begin the TWICE broadcast now. She kept trying to fight it, focus on eating, but her head would turn to her makeshift broadcasting center and she couldn't wait any longer.

"Let's just see what happens now!" she said to herself, jumping off the sofa and sliding into the desk chair, putting on her headphones.

Flipping a few switches and executing a particular software on her laptop, she was ready to go. She would begin the broadcast with her famous line;

"TWICE is sending a signal!"

Again, she entered her rhythmic routine of typing, adjusting, and humming as static gently pumped into her ears. However....

_eeeeeRRRRRKSSSSH...!!!_

"Gyah!!" Jihyo threw her headphones off onto the desk as a loud screeching noise blasted into her ears. "Damn, this equipment...." she said to herself, trying to make minor adjustments.

It was then that an odd sound was faintly coming from her headphones. It was embedded into the static and hard to make out, but it sounded like... a message?

Quickly, Jihyo put her headphones back on and did her best to adjust the frequencies to get a better signal. It sounded like... a voice? A male voice. And there seemed to be words being spoken... it sounded like--

"Jichorim blehba blip chh...."

"Huh?" Jihyo lifted her eyebrow in confusion. It sounded like total gibberish, but there was definitely a voice and they seemed to be emphesised as words.

Jihyo pulled her mic closer, swallowing her saliva nervously. "H-Hello, this is Park Jihyo of Project TWICE, sending a signal from Earth, South Korea."

There was a pause. No answer.

Sighing, Jihyo leaned back in her spinning chair, making it go side to side as she pouted in disappointed. But then--

"Tatsmato."

Jihyo jumps in startlement, quickly leaning into the mic and repeating what she just heard. "T-Tatsmato?"

"Earthian."

"Earthian?" she repeated, confused. Maybe that's what they call her kind. "Uh, y-yeah...I'm from Earth so I guess that makes me an Earthian, ahaha. So Tatsmato...that's what you are?"

"No. That is my name."

....did he just speak Korean?

"A-Ah...oh...um, it's nice to meet you, Tatsmato."

"Who are you? What is your rank?"

Well, this alien sure was inquisitive.

"Park Jihyo, I'm... a convenience store employee. But uh... I am the soul operator of TWICE. I've been sending signals for 101 days into space and you're the first to respond."

It was quiet for a moment. Perhaps he didn't find Jihyo all that interesting. I mean, after all, why would anyone want to talk to a convenience store employee?

"You say you are from Earth, South Korea?"

"Yes, that is my location. What about you? Where are you from?"

"Mato."

"Mato..." Jihyo repeatedly softly. Interesting name for a planet, it sounded familiar somehow... like a Japanese surname or something.

"We are obtaining your coordinates."

"Eh?!" Jihyo squeaked, eyes growing wide.

"Park Jihyo, what is your mission?"

"M-My mission?" she took a deep breath, trying to find the proper words to answer. "...my mission is to confirm what I know in my heart, and that is somewhere out there, on another planet, there are other people." Wait, would 'people' even be the right word? These other beings could look like anything!

"Your coordinates have just translated. You have cooperated well, Earthian. This is Tatsmato, General of B.A.P, with official Earthian contact. Transmitting to Governor..."

"Governor...?" Jihyo questioned quietly. She put her hand to her mouth, thinking, "Oh my, what have I stumbled across? This is too much!"

After that, the line went dead, immediately followed by the gentle static she's been accustomed to these past 100 days. She inhaled an intense, deep breath, exhaling it harshly as if she has had the shock of her life. Well, she has!

"I made contact...." she said, almost breathlessly. "I actually talked to an alien from some other planet and--" something just dawned on her. She immediately checked the laptop and let out a loud scream.

"I FORGOT TO RECORD IT!!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * *

 

"I spoke to an Earthian female."

"Excellent work, General Tatsmato."

A woman was on the screen with lucious wavy black hair, wearing a large grin after receiving the news from Tatsmato about the contact. She was the Governor of Mato, as well as leader of the brigade entitled _Secret._

"You're finally doing well," she added. "You've been failing all of your missions so badly, I had thought about assigning ShiShiMato to take command of B.A.P you know."

Tatsmato seethed. This is why he hated talking to the Governor. She was always such a pain.

"You heard the tape and we've got her coordinates. She resides in a region called South Korea."

"Ooh, South Korea.... I think I've collected data about that place. Lots of spicy food there. And melodious names. I even adopted one in case I ever plan to bring Secret to scout it out myself."

"G-Governor, I thought--"

"Right, right, I promised the mission to B.A.P. You even managed to make contact and get coordinates, congrats to you!"

Her overly cheery way of speaking made Tatsmato feel sick and insulted all at once.

"Ahh, one more thing before you're off on your mission! Bring all your soldiers forward." she commanded.

"Yes, Governor." he turned around, facing 5 other elite soldiers, gesturing with his hand to approach.

"Now you're invading an alien space, and you don't want to immediatly frighten the natives. Especially ShiShi...I'm quite concerned over him, but we'll need to help blend you in!"

"What's your suggestion?"

"First of all, your names are weird. I mean, they are not weird to us obviously, but to them it screams alien. So, I will be assigning you all Earthian names!"

"Earthian names? Forget it." said ShiShimato, obviously displeased. He was known as Mato's most fierce killer. Just by looking at him, he was intimidating.

"I think the Governor is right. We need to be sure we appear more friendly to the natives, having names like them will help." said Jokomato, the smartest of the group. "I think we should obtain data on that region's culture so we can conduct ourselves properly and politely."

"That's just dumb," Shishimato spat.

"Ahh, Joko, you're really thinking ahead. I should definitely reward you later!" The Governor jumped up, clapping her hands, causing Joko to smile in embarrassment.

"What kind of Earthian names will we have?" asked Dadamato in his soft voice. Despite the way he talks, he was one of the strongest in the group which is most visible in his muscular arms.

Kekemato, who was wearing a mask over his mouth, simply looked at Dada and back at the screen, nodding. He was known as the Matoki Ninja and was a master at ambush and spy missions.

"Well, since the Earth location is South Korea, you should have names that are native to that area. The less foreign you appear, the better!" she told them.

"Just get to the point," Shishimato groaned.

"Right, I'm sending all the data to Totomato right now--"

"Hey! No uploading data into him without my permission!" There was no way anyone would have any control over his precious android except for him.

"Hmph, fine." The Governor moaned. "I'll just tell you then."

First, she pointed to Shishimato. "Bang Yongguk."

Then, she pointed to the General. "Kim Himchan."

Next up, the ninja. "Jung Daehyun."

Following, the smart one. "Yoo Youngjae."

Her finger then pointed toward strong one. "Moon Jongup."

Lastly, the tall but youthful android. "Choi Junhong."

"Ey, he's my creation and I'm going to name him." Shishimato said.

"What name do you have in mind, Mr. Bang?"

"Hmm..." he stared hard at his tall, youthful android in which he was proud of. "...Zelo."

The General looked over at him. "Are you kidding? Then everyone will know he's a robot."

"No. We can just say it's a nickname." he replied.

"I won't risk you jeoporadizing this mission."

"My word is final. Toto is Zelo. You like that, right?"

"I am Zelo~" he replied happily.

"Ugh..." Tatsmato, or Himchan now, groaned. "Governor, are you done?"

"Done? Yes, for now. If Bang Yongguk won't allow me to upload your mission statement, I'll send it to Youngjae's tablet. I will be periodically checking in on your mission status. If you're around any Earthians, to divert suspicion, just call me Hyoseong~"

And with that, the screen went blank.

"I think we should start calling each other by our Earthian names so we get used to it." Jokomato, or Youngjae now, suggested. "Let's use it from now on when we refer to each other."

"Fine. I'm Bang Yongguk. At least it sounds powerful." Yongguk commented. "Zelo, transfer coordinates into the ship's steering."

"Affirmative." he saluted, walking into the driver's station.

"Hey, Dada--or...Jongup? Yeah, you. Prepare the equipment." Himchan commanded.

He stood up, saluting. "Yes, General."

"And you, Daehyun. Boot up the transporter."

Without saying a word, he was off to do that.

"You go with him, Youngjae."

"Ah, right..." while picking up his tablet, Youngjae followed Daehyun into the transporter room.

Sighing, Himchan was at least thankful everyone was listening to him for once. Or, almost everyone anyway. This was going to be a frustrating mission...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cover credits; Made by me via GIMP. Jihyo render by HikariKida at dA. B.A.P render by hyunasia at dA. Logo made with cooltext. Signal lines and spaceship from openclipart.org
> 
> \- In Tah-Dah, It's B.A.P! Secret's Hyoseong is, by canon, the Governor of Mato. And despite that Yongguk is the leader of B.A.P, in the show, Himchan was the General. Also, Zelo really was the robot of the group, built by Yongguk.   
> \- The names I refer to them as before receiving their real names are their official Matoki character names.   
> \- B.A.P used to occasionally speak random gibberish, supposedly the Mato language, and I tried to emulate how it sounded here. Any Mato speak will be just that, gibberish.   
> \- I chose to use the term 'Earthian' for people of our planet, because that is how it was translated in the subs I saw of Tah-Dah, it's B.A.P! and I really like that term better than earthling.


	3. CH2: Invaded

Jihyo tossed and turned on her bed. Sitting up, she pouted with a little groan, mentally kicking herself for not recording what took place last night.

"I finally made contact with an alien lifeform, and I don't even have the proof!"

Her phone suddenly vibrated, showing a text notification. Swiping it from her nightstand, she sees it's from Jeongyeon.

{ Are you available this weekend? }

Sighing, she thought to get her mind off her mistake, maybe hanging out with her and Mina would be good for her, so she replied, "Yeah. Where to?"

Jeongyeon didn't skip a beat to respond.

{ Anywhere you like! We'll take you~ }

A small smile pulled at the corners of Jihyo's lips. Anywhere she wanted? Smirking, she sent in her response, "I want to go to my favourite coffee shop."

{ I knew it. Please meet us around 4PM Sunday, okay? }

Jihyo sets her phone aside and goes to prepare breakfast before she needs to head out to work again. Today was Friday and luckily she will have the weekend off.

As she prepared a quick meal, she couldn't keep her eyes off her laptop. Something told her she better have a look, after all, something spectacular happened last night. It was all she dreamed and more. It was a little scary, to be honest.

Walking over to her desk, she slid into her chair and eyed the desktop. But something was... _off._

"Huh?"

There was a folder icon on the desk she clearly doesn't remember seeing there. She was certain she hadn't made any new folders. On top of that, it had a really weird title: _blappipo._ It reminded her of that weird gibberish Tatsmato was speaking last night.

Wait a minute.

"Did they hack me?!"

While maybe not the brightest thing to do when you see a strange, unknown file on your computer, she immediately opened the weirdly titled folder to find 6 image files. She immediately noticed one being titled "tatsmato".

"Are these their pictures?"

She opened the file up, revealing a surprising image of a black bunny wearing a pink coloured mouth mask. Obviously, her first assumption was this is what the aliens looked like. She clicked one image after the other, noticing all the plushy like bunnies wore different coloured masks. Maybe that signifies something?

Another file that was contained was an audio file that said "A Message from Jokomato". Well, at least they wrote it in Korean this time. She decided to click on it, and while the recording sounded a bit drowned in static, she was still clearly able to make it out. The message went; "Earthian! Thank you for contacting us. We needed the coordinates to invade your planet. Please take good care of us!"

"Huh?!"

Jihyo exclaimed in sheer shock at this message. It was in polite language, but despite that, the connotation of what was being said was absolutely _dreadful._

"D-Did he just say _invasion?!"_

Suddenly, she heard a weird, unexplainable noise outside her door. It sounded like soft...lasers? Jihyo was frightened now, _very frightened._ In most situations, the smart thing to do would not go and open the door, and while Jihyo was certainly not a dumb girl, her curiosity is a killer and she slowly arose from her chair to investigate.

Her hand wrapped around the doorknob gently. She quickly unlocked everything and took a peak out the door, only to find everything looked as it should. Nobody was there, nothing but these weird bunny plush---wait, what?!

Jihyo jumped back in startlement at the dolls before her. They looked _exactly_ like the ones sent in the images. Could these be the aliens she contacted last night? No way! They looked inanimate.

She bent down and scooped up the plushies, eyeing each one curiously. The one she happened to pay extremely close attention to was the one with a blue mouth mask and a winder on its head. "Cute," she thought, shrugging as she decided to bring the strange dolls into her apartment. She laid them out on the sofa before she began pacing in deep thought.

"Strange," she said to herself. "Why would they send me dolls? Is it a sign of some sort? Do they want me to get used to their appearance so I won't be scared of them?"

As she pondered this, that weird, soft laser noise sounded again--this time, coming from behind her. Like a reflex, she turned around, only to nearly scream at the top of her lungs when 6 blonde men were standing there!

"Haaaa....!" Jihyo jumped back, almost losing her balance. "Wh-Who are you?!"

"Earthian." a deep, intimidating voice came out of one of them, causing her to flinch.

"Yongguk, you're scaring her." said one of the others, he seemed kinder at least.

"Right. Zelo, bring her to us."

"Okay!" Suddenly, the extremely tall one approached her, picking her up in his arms and carrying her to their commander.

"Park Jihyo?" said the one whom she could only assume was General Tatsmato. After all, his voice was the same.

"T-T-T-Tatsmato?"

He nodded.

Jihyo had no words. She had no words right now. All she could do was stare with wide eyes. That's all she knew how to do right now, _stare._

"The Earthian seems to have forgotten how to speak and keeps staring at me. She's probably distracted by how handsome I look right now."

"H-Huh?"

Did he just say what she thought he said? Well, admittedly he was quite handsome--focus, Jihyo! There are 6 aliens in your house who happen to look human, all with blonde hair!

"I-I thought you'd all be _tokki,_ " she sputtered.

"Tokki?" the one with the light grey coloured mask on repeated in question.

"Guys, we need to be more polite." That was obviously Jokomato from the recording. "Zelo, please put her down."

Zelo didn't listen, he simply shook his head.

"You better put her down," the deep-voiced one commanded.

"Zelo will do that." And with that, he set Jihyo to her feet.

"We're sorry to startle you," Joko said. "Let's start over. My name is Joko--but call me Youngjae. We are Matoki from the planet Mato."

Wow, their name does sound similar to bunny. But that didn't matter right now. Jihyo asked, "How'd you guys get in here?"

"Oh, through these. See?" Youngjae picked up the bunny with the white face and yellow mouth mask.

"I'm not following..."

"We can transfer our energy inside these. It was easier to infiltrate your planet if we didn't directly beam ourselves down, you know?"

Jihyo nodded slowly, feeling more and more disturbed yet fascinated at the same time.

"You seem confused."

"I am confused."

"Please tell me what you are confused about and I'll try to explain our intention as best I can."

"Okay..." Jihyo took a deep breath, really choosing her words and questions carefully. "First of all... who are you?"

"Ah, I already told you my name. I'm Youngjae, I handle strategy and tech for B.A.P. These are my comrads--" he puts out his hand to introduce them one by one. "Bang Yongguk, Mato's fiercest killer. Our General, Kim Himchan. The ninja, Jung Daehyun. The yes man, Moon Jongup. And then Yongguk's robot, Zelo."

"Robot?" she questioned. She looked at the tall one called Zelo, and to her he simply looked like a boy barely out of his teens much like herself. Noticing her gaze, the one called Zelo simply smiled at her--how was this a robot again?

"Okay then, uh... why do you all have Korean names?"

"We thought it'd be wise to have Earthian names native to the culture of your region to come off less hostile and foreign."

She nodded slowly, she guessed that sort of made sense...in a way. Not that their Matoki names were really hard to say, then again, it would be weird for them going around with those names also.

"One last question...." Jihyo eyed them all head to two, intaking their appearance. "....why are you all blonde?"

Yongguk got a little defensive. "Are you insulting our symbol of unity?!"

"N-No, I was just--"

"Hmm... are you suggesting it makes us stick out?" Youngjae asked.

"Don't Koreans all have dark hair?" Jongup pointed out.

"I-I mean yeah, but it's not weird to dye your hair other colours. Even I've done it before." said Jihyo.

"Then what's your point?" Yongguk glared.

"Yongguk, if it looks odd to her, that's not a good sign." Himchan stated. "We might have to consider a change."

"Jihyo!" said Zelo cheerily, trying to get her attention. She looked at him and saw the boy...er, robot, wave his hand over his head and suddenly his hair colour changed into an interesting pinkish-red tone, sort of like raspberry sorbet.

Jihyo jumped back, a bit startled by the immediate change, and Zelo just stood there smiling. He then took off to the other members and started to do their hair too. First, he went to his master and changed his hair black. Then, he went to Daehyun and changed it to a light metallic pink, he then went to Jongup to change his hair to a more dirty blonde hair colour, then he approached Youngjae---

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, keep your hands off! I want to keep mine." he protested.

Shrugging, Zelo then went to the General and turned his hair black.

When this was done, Himchan said to Jihyo, "Is this more suitable, Earthian?"

"Uh...y-yeah..." she nodded. "Your clothes though--"

"Ugh, what's wrong now?" Yongguk moaned.

Jihyo shuddered at the sound of his voice. Knowing he is Mato's most fiercest killer made her uncomfortable beyond belief, and she didn't want to displease him.

"Ay, I suggest Yongguk doesn't say anything, he's making her nervous." said Youngjae.

"Agreed." said Himchan. "Yongguk, refrain from speaking."

"I don't have to listen to you..." he scoffed.

"You challenging my authority?"

"What authority?"

Himchan cringed. Why is he always shot down like this by his subordinates?

Jihyo could sense the tension and quickly interjected, "Um, well it's just... your attire would work as maybe _stage outfits_ for an idol group, but be a little bit weird on the street."

"Idol group?" Daehyun questioned, pulling down his mouth mask. "What is that?"

"We don't have time for useless questions," said Himchan, clearly frustrated. He then eyed Jihyo, "How do you suppose we remedy this?"

"Obviously we need to get clothes that are stylish in this region." said Youngjae. "Your planet has clothing stores, right?"

Jihyo nodded, "There's some nearby even. But I don't think I have enough money to dress all of you!"

"Ah, money. Here." Youngjae pulled a rather large gold bar from his jacket. "I did some research on your planet and it seems Earthians really like this metal."

"Is that real gold?!" she exclaimed, eyes wide as saucers.

"Ye _s, pure._ It comes in abudance on our planet and is very common. It's a good conductor but aside from that, we have no other use for it. Maybe you can exchange this for currency."

"I can?" Jihyo took the bar, a little shocked by its weight.

"Zelo, you hold it." said Yongguk.

As commanded, Zelo picked up the bar without struggling, and started analysing it careful. Obviously, it fascinated the robot.

"Is that enough for you?" Himchan asked.

"Enough?!" she repeated. "I could buy entire wardrobes, and stalk up on food! And pay off rent for months to come!" Jihyo was in such shock and elation, she didn't know how else to react. She was near breathless at this point.

Her excitement was interrupted by the ring of the phone. It was her boss's number, and her heart sank. "That's right, I'm supposed to be in for work..."

"Cancel that. You need to work for us." Himchan commanded.

"What do you mean? How else am I going to make money?!"

Himchan put his hand out, gesturing to the gold bar in Zelo's hands. That's right, if Mato was abundant in gold, she could easily have an endless amount of money. She would never need to work again!

Nodding in compliance, Jihyo confidently answered her phone and said, "Boss, I'm sorry for such short notice, but due to personal circumstances I am quitting today. Goodbye." And then she hung up, feeling free. "That actually felt pretty good, aheh."

"Now go out and buy our needed supplies."

"Right, uh..." she looked at all of them. "I-I would need your measurements first."

"Just take Zelo with you."

Yongguk glared at Himchan. "You may have command over the 4 of us, but Zelo is my responsibility." he looked at Zelo. "You don't want to go with that Earthian, do you?"

Zelo's expression slightly saddened, feeling conflicted. "I sort of like the Earthian though."

Yongguk rolled his eyes. "Fine. Go with her. And take this with you." he pulled Youngjae's tablet from his hands, despite protest, and handed it to Jihyo. "This is in case the Governor contacts. Talking to her will be your responsibility."

"O-Okay...?" Jihyo said.

"Hey, who's in command here?" Himchan said.

Yongguk looked at him. "Would you rather deal with her?"

"Eh, not really..." he admitted.

"You'll need this too." Youngjae handed the doll with the winder. "In case Zelo needs to recharge. The rest of us will reside in our own until you get back."

She nodded slowly, taking the doll. Might as well get her backpack ready with all these stuff.

"Are you ready to go, Jihyo?" Zelo asked.

"Yeah, yeah, let's get you all blended in!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I thought it'd be a cute idea for B.A.P to use the bunnies as vessels to hide in, rather than it being their actual form.  
> \- The hair colour changes reflect their 'Power' era.  
> \- Despite this, I imagine Zelo to be at his 2018 height but his voice would be like it was in 2013/2014.  
> \- Everyone who appears in this story is supposed to be their 2018 ages.


	4. CH3: Blending In

It was an unbelievable sight. Jihyo, the hopeless stargazer, who has sent numerous messages for the past 101 days, was now side by side an alien-built artificial intelligence to go shopping for more suitable clothing!

It was truly unbelievable, she thought. Of course, she still had many questions to ask, like what's up with the dolls being some sort of vessel they can hang out inside, or why they came to Earth in the first place....actually, she really should ask them about the whole "invasion" thing. Because unless it was some form of mistranslation, she is certain invasion is _nothing positive._

You'd think with such doubts, she wouldn't be assisting them, but her heart was too high on happiness right now to care. Plus something told her deep down to trust these aliens... as dumb as that sounds. Really, the only one of the bunch that really frightens her is that Yongguk fellow, since he is Mato's fiercest killer. And Himchan was a little intimidating as well, perhaps since he's the General after all.

As the two walked down the street, Jihyo noticed Zelo holding the gold bar in plain sight. Realising this, she jumped in front of him, causing the poor robot to stop in startlement.

"What are you doing?!" she said, shocked.

He tilted his head, "Following you?"

"No, not that." she then pointed at the gold bar. "Why are you holding that in plain sight?"

"Hm?" he held the bar up, making it even more visible to passerbys who admittedly would turn around and stare in shock, wondering if that was real.

"Hide that!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling it down.

"Hide it?"

"Yes, hide that!"

"Affirmative." Zelo took the bar and stuffed it inside his bunny vessel.

She sighed. "Well...that works...."

"Jihyo!"

Startled, Jihyo did a jump spin and saw her two friends, Jeongyeon and Mina, approaching!

"Haaa....!"

Jihyo backed up a couple steps, putting out her arms as if she was trying to hide Zelo. Oh, who was she kidding? This kid TOWERED HER!

"Oh, uh.... h-hey guys!" she said nervously.

"We didn't expect to run into you!" Mina said with a smile.

"Yeah, you're always cooped up in your apartment with that radio station of yours." Jeongyeon crossed her arms.

Oh, if only Jihyo could tell them the fruits of her labour. If only she could shove the proof right into their faces and say, "I told you so!" But nope, she can't do that. For many reasons. At least not _yet._

It didn't take long for the two girls to notice the tall, raspberry-colour hair boy standing behind her.

"Uh... who's this?" Jeongyeon inquired, pointing.

Mina gasped in delight. "Oh my gosh, Jihyo! Did you get a boyfriend?"

Jihyo's eyes grew wide, "B-Boyfriend?!"

"Yeah, I mean..." she smiled widely, noticing how cute Zelo was. "That would explain a lot of things. Why you've been avoiding us and all. He's a good catch, tall and cute~"

"Tch, you think I'd be that desperate to date a robot?" she crossed her arms. "I-I mean....!"

"Robot?" Jeongyeon looked at her funny.

Mina looked concerned. "Jihyo... are you OK?"

"Ah, yeah, just..." she looked at Zelo who was just standing there, smiling as he held his bunny vessel plush thing. She quickly looked back at her friends, "Listen, I really have to go--" she grabbed Zelo's hand and quickly started running.

Her two friends watched as their energenic friend disappeared into the distance, knowing nothing about the guy with her.

"Weird as usual," said Jeongyeon.

"Leave her alone. She'll tell us when she's ready." said Mina. "Don't be surprised if she cancels our date this Sunday. I'm sure she and that boy have other plans~"

* * *

 

Jihyo, now exhausted, bent over as she tried to catch her breath. Zelo titled his head in confusion, trying to assess the situation. "You're not very fit."

She glared, still panting. "Excuse me?"

"I don't think your heart is strong enough to be running that distance."

"Oh...." she felt relieved. At first, she thought he was calling her fat or something.

"Aren't we suppose to exchange this for Earthian money?" Zelo pulled out the gold bar, once again, in plain sight.

Jihyo whined. "Come on, stop flashing that out in public--" however, she stopped. Looking up, it just so happens they were in front of the bank now!

"Oh, how convenient. Aheh~" she scratched the back of her head. "It's OK, Zelo. Let's go inside and get ourselves a wad of wons."

Of course, that was such an underestimated statement, as she was handed over _several_ wads of wons. Naturally, the smart thing to do would be to have some of this money transferred into her back account--which she did--but she still kept a lot of cash on her. She had yet to have a credit card and she didn't feel safe using her debit, so hence...

Walking down the sidewalk, the two passed by various stores. She wanted to find one with a variety of styles to save as many trips as possible. "Ah, this is a good store," Jihyo pointed out. "Come on, Zelo!"

They entered the store which had racks upon racks of really cool items the boys would look good in. Though she was a little concerned for Zelo since he was so tall, hopefully he didn't need any specialty clothing. Or he could just reuse his pants--they looked normal enough out of his entire outfit.

Jihyo searched for certain styles she thought would suit them and would like. She figured Yongguk would be comfortable in tank tops was her best guess, hopefully it was the right guess, as well as long sleeves he could wear over. She also grabbed some flanels for the General, hoodies for Daehyun, T-Shirts for Youngjae, also tank tops for Jongup.... now that only left Zelo. Since he was right beside her, she figured he could try them on.

She found a black short sleeve and sleeveless denim jacket she thought he'd look rather cool in. Also a nice snapback he could wear backwards on his head. She lifted them up and presented it to him, "Would you like to wear these?"

He smiled, nodding enthusiastically.

"Here!" she shoved the items in his arms. "Try them on, we'll see how you look!"

Cheerily, Zelo went into a dressing room, appearing only seconds afterward. He looked really cute, now all he needed was a skateboard. Jihyo smiled, nodding with approval. "Nice!"

Passing by the store outside by some unfortunate luck happened to be, once again, Mina and Jeongyeon. They happened to catch a glimpse of having Zelo try out his new outfit for Jihyo. A smile pulled at the corner of Mina's lips, "Well, well, look at that Jeongyeon."

With her hands in both her jacket pockets, she turned and saw the two seeming to have a good time. "So what? They're just shopping together."

"Exactly!" Mina turned to her. "Jeongyeon, this is _exactly_ what Jihyo needs."

"Tch, so we're not good enough?"

Mina groaned. "No, that's not it and you know it! Listen... it doesn't help with your ridicule of her.... _hobby._ It's pushed her away and caused her to not want to open up, therefore isolating herself. Now this boy..." she looks through the glass again to see Jihyo and Zelo approaching the cashier. "He's an outside source. Jihyo can start fresh and clean, with no worries!"

Jeongyeon shrugged, but sort of got the point. "Eh, maybe you're right. By the way, they're exiting the shop and will probably accuse us of spying now."

"H-Huh?" Mina quickly turned around at just the right moment for Jihyo to notice. "Oh uh.... hey Jihyo, w-we were just passing by and um..."

Jihyo scoffed. "Yeah, sure you were..."

Without another word, Jihyo took Zelo's wrist and they proceeded to walk away rather hastily.

Jeongyeon had to laugh. "Nice going!"

Pouting, Mina shot Jeongyeon a glare before they went off on their own business.

* * *

 

"Here!"

Jihyo tossed a ball of clothing toward Yongguk, the last to receive his items.

She put her hands on her hips, feeling proud of herself. "This should help you blend in more~"

"Thank you so much!" Youngjae said. "You did a nice job on Zelo."

Jihyo looked over at the robot, admiring her work. "Yeah, I think I did~"

Zelo smiled, really happy with his new attire.

Lost in the moment, she almost didn't notice that Daehyun had disappeared from her field of vision. With a sharp turn around, she saw the ninja in her kitchen, digging through cabinets.

"H-Hey!" she ran over to him, grabbing his arm. "What are you doing?!"

He looked at her, pulling down his mouth mask. "My stomach is aching, thus it requires sustanance."

"So basically you're hungry."

"Yes, I am very hungry. Please feed me good food."

"Right, right.... forgot to go shopping...." she sighed. While she pondered what she should probably shop for, Daehyun went ahead and opened her refrigerator. Quickly, she whipped around, "Hey!"

With wide eyes, Daehyun pulled a small container of chicken pieces. "This looks like some kinda meat...." he stuck his hand in there, taking a piece.

"Ooh, I think that's what Earthians call 'chicken', right?" Youngjae went over there and grabbed a piece for himself.

"Ey, give me some of that." Yongguk motioned with his hands and Zelo readily took a piece and gave it to his master.

Jihyo groaned. "Ugh, quit raiding my fridge!"

"You can always buy more food." Himchan stated.

"But I was just out!"

"You can go out again."

"She should probably bring someone along to help her." Jongup suggested.

"Oh, pick me, pick me!" both Youngjae and Daehyun, mouths still full, raised their hands to volunteer.

"After you raided my fridge? No." Jihyo crossed her arms.

"Ah, sorry about that..." Youngjae scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "That was very impolite. But please, let me make it up to you by assisting your shopping trip."

"Denied. You're needed here to finish your logs." Himchan told him.

"I can finish my logs later. Right now, assisting Jihyo in providing the proper sustanance is a more pressing matter."

"I agree!" Daehyun looked at Jihyo, almost pleading. _"Please take me!"_

Himchan was probably getting more frustrated than Jihyo. "Not Keke--I mean, Daehyun! All he'll get is meat and cheesecake." he then looked over at Jihyo. "I'll go with you."

"Are you sure that's wise, General?" Youngjae asked.

"It's not! Take me!" Daehyun insisted.

"Fine, we'll let fate decided." Himchan got in position for rock-paper-scissors. One, two, three....

Daehyun raised his arms triumphantly, as his scissors defeated Himchan's paper.

Himchan stared at him sternly. "Let Jihyo add more than just meat and sugar in the cart, got it?"

Daehyun put his mouth mask back on, nodding. Sighing, Jihyo grabbed her backpack, having to get ready for yet _another_ shopping venture.


	5. CH4: Complicated

Round two shopping. This time---food. Her companion? The ninja. For the most part, he looked generally normal in his new attire, though the mask over his mouth seemed a bit odd.

"Maybe you should take that off." Jihyo suggested.

"I need to conceal my identity." he replied.

She sighed, "Fine... you don't look _too criminal_ at least. Maybe people will just assume you've contracted the common cold."

This was insane. At first, she was quite excited about meeting aliens, but she had no idea it entailed being an _errand girl._ Then again, the amount of money she's receiving for helping them is probably over a hundred times what any errand girl would actually be earning, so perhaps complaining should not be in order.

Once they arrived at the grocery mart, she kindly asked Daehyun to be in charge of pushing the cart. Luckily, the ninja had no objection. The two entered through the automatic doors, and immediately Daehyun's eyes widened in wondered. Jihyo noticed, asking, "Don't tell me they don't have things like this on your planet."

He simply shook his head. Honestly, that didn't make sense to her. How do they eat?

"Where do you get food then?"

He pulled something out of his pocket wrapped in plastic, "Dry."

Jihyo took the item that was written in what looked like gibberish to her. It seemed like some sort of energy bar, but from Daehyun's disdainful tone, probably didn't taste as good. Hmm... that's odd, she clearly remembered the General mentioning something about _meat and cheesecake_ although perhaps those were simply hard to come by. Maybe all this dried stuff was the common meal.

"Well, don't worry, 'cause Jihyo is going to get you guys good food tonight!" she told him.

It was obvious Daehyun was elated to hear that. Probably why he had no qualms about cart pushing. That made Jihyo's life easier!

The two whisked through many aisles, first filling up the cart with much needed goods; rice, flour, seasonings, pasta, canned goods... that sort of stuff. Next was the produce. She filled the cart with many types of foliage, some Daehyun seemed familiar with and others he clearly was not. He seemed especially fascinated about the pineapple. On top of that, it was hard to keep her companion contained once she got to the meat section. "Hold on, let me deal with what we're getting..." she told him. Himchan wasn't joking it seemed...

With almost everything crossed off the list, it seemed they were going to get ready to go in line, until another misfortunate fell upon our poor stargazer. "Oh crap!" Jihyo pulled Daehyun as they hid behind a shelf.

He seemd a bit confused, "What's wrong?"

"Shhh.... she might see us!" Jihyo panicked.

Still confused, Daehyun looked around the corner only to see a short haired girl in view. "You mean her?"

"What are you--!" but it was too late, Jeongyeon spotted them.

Quickly, Jihyo grabbed Daehyun's wrist and started dragging him along as they ran to the otherside of the aisle, leaving their precious cart behind. However, it seemd Jeongyeon was quick thinking, as she emerged at the other end of the aisle. However--

"Uhn!" Jeongyeon dropped unconcious as Daehyun squeezed a certain area behind her neck.

Jihyo gasped in shock, unaware that it was a non-lethal tactic and assuming he had killed her. Daehyun seemed to sense her panic and quickly assured her, "She'll probably assume it was all a dream when she wakes up."

A sigh of relief escaped Jihyo's mouth. What a mess... it's just, if she saw Jihyo with Daehyun, it's going to get back to Mina, and since she was seen with Zelo earlier... oh she can't imagine what will be going on in that girl's head. Luckily, by some form of luck, the CCTV in that spot was being repaired, thus it wasn't on, thus nobody saw what Daehyun just did. Feeling shaky about the whole situation, Jihyo marched out of that grocery mart despite Daehyun's protest of leaving their delicious cart behind.

"I'm sorry, it's just... _complicated."_ she explained to him... if you could even call that an explanation.

Daehyun pulled his mask down, "Is that girl dangerous?"

"Ehh... not in the conventional sense."

He tilted his head, "Huh?"

"Oh, uh... well she's actually a friend of mine..."

His eyes widened, "A friend?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Oh, 'cause I was under the impression she was some form of assassin."

Now Jihyo's eyes were the ones widening. "N-No no no! Not at all! I don't have any enemies!"

"But now I'm confused... if she's your friend, why were you running from her?"

"I-It's complicated, you wouldn't understand!"

As soon as her sentence finished, Daehyun's stomach made an audible rumble noise. An obvious displeased expression came upon his face, as due to Jihyo's "complicated" relationship with her friend, they had left behind their wondrous cart of supplies. Jihyo nervously laughed, but Daehyun just stared at her, uttering this sentence; "You have to explain this to the General."

* * *

 "Repeat that again!"

Jihyo flinched at the sudden raising of Himchan's voice as soon as she and Daehyun returned from their supposed "shopping venture". She had done her best to explain the situation, but Himchan wasn't having it.

"I knew Earthians were useless..." Yongguk commented.

Himchan sighed, clearly frustrated. "Let's go over this again..." he said, that in itself making Jihyo feel on edge right now. "You had all of our supplies, but decided to abandon the mission because you saw this girl... Jeongyeon?"

Jihyo nodded, keeping her eyes focused on the floor like a child being scolded by their mother.

"Jeongyeon is not known to be a threat to you, is she?"

"N-Not in the conventional--"

"So is she your enemy?"

She quickly shook her head.

"Jihyo said she's her friend." Daehyun stated.

"I see..." Himchan seethed.

"I-It's complicated!" Jihyo told him.

"AND WHAT'S SO COMPLICATED?"

She flinched again. Actually, by this point she was shaking. Zelo and Jongup were feeling very sorry for her as they watched in the distance. Zelo felt especially sad since he really likes Jihyo, and Jongup simply felt bad because getting yelled at by Himchan is never fun.

"Listen, Earthian..." Himchan started. "You had a simple task. We need those supplies. We are not accustomed to this planet yet, thus unfortunately have to rely on _you_ the only Earthian we can trust with our situation right now!"

She nodded, bowing in apology. "I know, I'm... I'm sorry for letting you down!"

"Now go back and get those supplies."

"I-I--"

"No excuses!"

"B-But--"

"Go back and get those supplies!"

"Ah, General... " said Youngjae. "Maybe you are being too harsh on the Earthian. She isn't a soldier like us, she's a civilian."

Himchan sighed, putting his hand on his forehead and falling back in his chair. "You're right... perhaps I was too much for the Earthian..." he looked back at Jihyo. "Please fix this... we cannot have any delays."

"It's just that--" but once again, Jihyo was cut off.

"Why are you afraid of Jeongyeon if she is your friend?" Daehyun asked.

"B-Because she'll report back to Mina and then--"

"Report back?" Himchan questioned. "I thought you said she was your ally."

"Friend."

"It's the same difference." Youngjae added.

"Yes, well... uh..." Jihyo wasn't sure how to explain. "It's just complicated."

"Maybe if you'd elaborate it wouldn't be so difficult to understand." Himchan told her, trying to surpress his anger as best he could but clearly irritated as hell.

"Nnn..." how was she going to explain? Would they even get it? Obviously, Himchan was losing his patience and she certainly didn't want to find out what would happen if he lost it. Explaining was the only option here, but she was too embarrassed to get any coherent sentences out.

"I'll help you retrieve the food." Jongup volunteered, raising his hand. "It's probably a lot, so you'll need help."

"Th-That's nice, but---"

"The Earthian is going to complain again." Yongguk commented. "Just admit it--you don't want to work for us, do you?"

"Th-That's not it, I swear!"

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's just then Jeongyeon will tell Mina that... that...!"

"Ahh, so she is some form of informant for Mina... who is your _actual enemy,_ right?" Youngjae theorised.

"N-Not exactly... Mina's my friend too, but--"

"I'm ready to go grab the food." said Jongup, already standing by the door.

"Okay, umm..." Youngjae scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to assess this situation. This Earthian sure was strange. "Then I will go with you to retrieve the supplies. I'm the stragetist, so if we run into that Jeongyeon girl again I can figure a way through the situation."

"I'm still coming because she'll need lots of help." Jongup stated.

Jihyo laughed nervously, but still looked unsure and panicked. It was seriously confusing everyone.

Suddenly, Zelo stood up and said, "Zelo is going too."

"What makes you think you should go?" Yongguk asked.

He walked over to Jihyo, cheerily replying, "Because Jihyo feels safest with me."

Jihyo quickly looked at Yongguk and nodded violently. After all, Mina and Jeongyeon first saw her with Zelo, so they'd assume the other guys are just his friends or something!

Yongguk sighed, but nodded. "Do what you need to do."

"I'll help t--" Daehyun raised his hand, about to join them, but then Himchan quickly said, "I need to have a discussion with you, Kekemato."

Daehyun let his arm fall limp at his side, reluctantly nodding.

Meanwhile, at the grocery mart---

"Nnn..." Jeongyeon was slowly coming to. She was on the ground, vision blurred, but she could hear the muffled sound of voices and see many faces staring down at her. In the distance, she could hear an echoing, familiar voice, calling her name.

"Jeongyeon, Jeongyeon! It's Mina... Mina is here!"

"...Mina?" she questioned.

Her eyes were finally in focus and there was Mina, staring down at her with a concerned expression. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know..." Jeongyeon sat up, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's all fuzzy like, but... I remember this dude with a mask around his mouth, then everything went black."

"Check the CCTVs." Mina commanded, worried.

"The CCTVs in this area are out." one of the store clerks told her.

She looked up at him, "Were there any witnesses?"

He simply shook his head.

"I'm fine, don't worry..." Jeongyeon assured Mina.

"Well, if you say so..."

Not too far from them, Jihyo had entered the store with Zelo, Youngjae, and Jongup behind her. Luckily, the cart of groceries she had left behind with Daehyun was still there at the "scene of the crime." She pointed at it, and both Jongup and Zelo quickly went to retrieve it. But of course, as "fate" would have it, Mina caught a glimpse of the two aliens. She recognised the tall one as the guy with Jihyo from earlier, so she quickly ran down the aisle and peaked around to see them bring it to Jihyo and Youngjae.

"Who are all these guys?" she thought.

She noticed Jihyo intently talking with the blonde one we know as Youngjae before walking off to get in line.

"Ugh, Mina!" Jeongyeon shouted, sluggishly walking up to her.

Mina quickly looked at her, "Shh!"

Rolling her eyes, Jeongyeon just shook her head and said, "I'm going home and putting ice on my head..."


	6. CH5: Contact

Jihyo sat in front of her computer that night, after the B.A.P tucked themselves away to sleep--except Zelo; he decided to lay out on the couch in "sleep mode" in case he needed to be summoned to protect Jihyo.

She couldn't help but smile at the ridiculously tall android, sleeping soundly on a sofa that he couldn't quite fit. He had to rest his legs on the furthest armrest, so they dangled a bit. It was just so hard to believe he was an android; he simply looked like a sleeping boy!

Turning back in her chair, she began typing a little log as her words played audibly inside her head---

_TWICE Station Log: 102nd Day_

_Today has been quite the event._

_Last night, I had successfully made contact with an alien by the name of Tatsmato. Unfortunately, I experienced severe regret when I found I had not recorded the conversation._

_Such regret was retracted._

_Sleeping in the living room as I speak are 6 aliens from the planet Mato, regenerating inside a.... bunny plush toy. Well, make that 5 aliens... the 6th one is actually an android who decided to keep watch by sleeping on the couch. His name is Zelo and he seems very protective of me. I must admit, he's adorable, with a bunny plush to match!_

"What are you writing?"

Jihyo squeaked, turning around to find Youngjae standing behind her. She released a sigh of relief, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Is this a log?"

"Yes."

Youngjae leaned in, quickly reading it then shaking his head. "No, our presence on this planet must remain confidential."

And with several pushes on the BACKSPACE key, her entire entry was gone. "H-Hey!"

"Your computer is not very secure. Anyone could hack inside."

"Hey, that's right.... you put a bunch of strange files on here earlier!"

He nodded. "As I said... _not very secure."_

Jihyo groaned, crossing her arms and pouting.

"If you're going to keep record, it should be done so on non-digital materials." Youngjae presented her with a blank book and a pen. "Rushed handwriting recommended to remain more encrypted."

"Pfft...haha!" Jihyo laughed at that little comment. Due to her excitement in all this, the writing would probably appear indecipherable to anyone aside from her anyway. "Thanks."

He nodded, smiling a bit.

Suddenly, the monitor screen started to get all fuzzy and snowy. Both Jihyo and Youngjae were taken aback.

"Ugh.... this monitor is new, too!" Jihyo started banging on it, but Youngjae put his hand out to stop.

"Hold on a minute..."

The snow subsided, and once the picture started to come into clear again, a live stream of a beautiful woman appeared on the screen.

"Kim Himchan!" was the words she spoke. But then... "Huh? He's not here?"

"He's currently resting, Governor." Youngjae told her.

"Tch.... always trying to get out of talking to me!" the governor pouted, like she was disappointed or something. She then noticed Jihyo sitting there. "Who is this with you, Joko?"

"The Earthian female."

"Oh, you managed to capture her!"

"Capture?" Jihyo gave Youngjae a look and he got nervous.

"G-Governor, she is not our captive."

She tilted her head. "Oh maybe.... slave then?"

He shook his head.

"Handmaiden?"

He shook his head again, almost laughing.

"Servant?"

"Close enough...." he looked toward Jihyo. "Her Earthian speech is a little confused. We had to learn all the different dialects from this planet."

"All of them?" Jihyo's eyes widened. _'That's more than just dialects, but entire languages, sir!'_

"Earthian, what is your name?"

"M-Me?"

She nodded.

"I'm Park Jihyo, the... lead broadcaster of project _TWICE."_

"I am the governor of Mato, but my real name's a _secret~_ For now, you may refer to me as Hyoseong."

"Governor, why are you calling?" Youngjae asked.

"A-And how'd you get into my computer?!" Jihyo demanded.

"Jihyo!" Zelo, suddenly alerted, awoke from his sleep mode and jumped off the couch, grabbing Jihyo from the chair.

"H-Hey! Put me down!" she pleaded.

"Huh? But you were in distress..."

"It's the Governor." Youngjae told him.

"Oh..." he set Jihyo back on her feet. "I'm sorry, I thought someone was trying to hurt you."

"I-It's OK, I was just a bit...startled... by your governor's sudden appeared on my screen."

Zelo turned to look at the screen and then waved, "Hi Governor!"

"Hello Junhong~" she waved back.

"Junhong?" Jihyo looked at Youngjae.

"His original alias." he told her. "Shishi wanted to name him himself, so he called him Zelo instead."

"Uhhh... Shishi?"

"Ah, sorry... that's Yongguk's matoki name."

"Oh..." well, Jihyo certainly was facing more than she bargained for when coming into contact with these _aliens._

"Who's that?"

A slight nasally, raspy voice came. Emerging from the dark was General Himchan who was still half asleep. Once he saw the woman on the screen, however, he regretted asking.

"Ah! If it isn't my beloved General~"

"Ugh..." Himchan groaned. "What is it, Governor?"

"You know how vital this mission is for the survival of our planet." her tone shifted to a more serious one. "Give me a progress report."

"None."

"None?"

"We just landed and enlisted the Earthian for assistance, what did you expect?"

"Results."

"This woman is always so impatient..." he muttered. "Governor, why don't you check on us a few days from now? That seems more reasonable lapse of time, and I'll give you your report."

"You better, Tats! Or I'm placing Shishi in your position!" And with that, the stream ended.

Himchan sighed, putting his hand on his forehead. Having to deal with the governor was always a pain for him.

"Are you alright?" Zelo asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah... I'll be alright...." he replied.

Jihyo leaned toward Youngjae. "He doesn't seem to like her very much."

"Only in appearance."

"Huh?"

"General." Youngjae walked over to him. "What's the next step?"

"Let's talk about it in the morning." he replied. "Late morning."

"Gotcha."

Both Youngjae and Himchan returned to their individual bunny vessels, and Zelo went back to the sofa.

"Um... wouldn't you be more... _comfortable_ in this?" Jihyo held up Zelo's little winder bunny.

He shook his head while smiling. "I'm going to make sure Jihyo isn't compromised."

Awww, he was just so adorable! Jihyo couldn't help but smile. "Okay then, sleep well Zelo."

Jihyo turned out the lights and walked into her room. The sight of her warm, soft bed was ever so inviting after this hectic day. Not everyone was lucky to make contact with an alien General, only for him to bring his entire squadron into their apartment.

...well, when you put it that way, it sounds rather disturbing, but as you know it didn't unfold in such a manner.

Falling backward, Jihyo stared at the ceiling, running back all that transpired today. She couldn't help but groan about the mess that's been formed with Mina and Jeongyeon. Hopefully they wouldn't bring it up to her the next time they meet....

* * *

"Jeongyeon, I'm worried!" Mina was pacing back and forth, concerned.

"Ugh... my head..." Jeongyeon placed an icepack on her head for the who-knows-how-many-ith time.

"Hey, listen to me! This is important!"

"My head's what's important right now.... gosh, it hurts...this headache is _killing me!"_

"Oh Jihyo...."

"Hey..." Jeongyeon sat up straight. "I thought all your worries disintegrated when you saw her with that boy earlier?"

"Well, that's all changed!"

Jeongyeon sighed, flopping back down in the sofa, moaning "Ugh... and I thought Jihyo was the crazy one... sorry I ever doubted you..."

"She was with some really _shady_ looking guys, Jeongyeon."

"What shady guys?"

"The ones at the market!"

"And how were they shady?"

"I-I don't know, I just knew!"

"Didn't see 'em."

Mina was getting frustrated. "You're not the least bit worried, are you?"

"I am for _you,_ sure."

Rolling her eyes, Mina gave Jeongyeon a light punch in the arm. "Ow...! What's it to you who she hangs out with?"

"A friend has a right to be concerned."

"A friend also has a right to stay out of people's business."

Mina had no comeback.

"Look..." Jeongyeon sat up again, soldiering the severe headache plaguing her currently (and not just from the injury). "You said yourself, our criticism has garnered some space between Jihyo--"

" _Your_ criticism."

"Yeah, fine.... okay, _my_ criticism. Even so, I'm going to repeat your statement--this is what Jihyo _needs._ And apparently, it's not us right now."

"You're right..." Mina sighed. "We'll assault her for interrogation later."

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, flopping back down on the sofa and putting the pillow over her head. "Ugh... my head..."


	7. CH6: Concern

Morning came.

The sound of cars rushing to work, the faint singing of birds being drowned out by street noise, the aroma of breakfast--

Hold on... _breakfast?_

Jihyo shot up in a sitting position, eyes wide open, from her bed. Her head immediately turned toward her door (which was left wide open) where the smell was coming from. She could hear the sound of a frying pan and occasionally loud noises from a couple of individuals whom she couldn't quite identify. "Are they using my kitchen without my permission?"

About to throw off her covers to confront her alien guests, a tall figure appears with a plate in each hand to greet her happily. "Good morning, Jihyo!"

It was Zelo, placing two plates upon her lap which contained her breakfast. Jihyo stared down at it with wide eyes, then back at Zelo.

"It's breakfast." he told her. "Organic beings require food to keep running."

Jihyo put her hand to her mouth, giggling slightly at that statement. Not that it wasn't true, but it just sounded hilarious the way he put it. "Okay, thank you, Zelo. But what about you?"

He shook his head. "I don't have to eat."

"Ah, right, right... forgot." Jihyo still wasn't used to the idea of him being a robot. "So how do _you_ get energy then?"

"Recharge module."

Jihyo nodded. That would make sense.

"I can consume food and turn it into energy for emergencies, though."

Her eyes widened in fascination. "Whoa... then nobody would think you're a robot!"

Well, Jihyo learned something new today. These aliens seem to never cease amazing her.

Grabbing her chopsticks, she began to eat the food prepared for her. Once again, her eyes would widen, this time due to the sheer bliss her tongue was experiencing. "Mmm... this is so good! Who made this, anyway?"

"The General."

She nearly dropped her chopsticks. Suddenly, there was a loud sound in an indecipherable language coming from... _the ninja?_

Jihyo ran out of her room (with Zelo right behind her) to see what all the commotion was about. There was Daehyun, his mouth mask pulled off, holding up a small plate of food raising a vicious complaint to Himchan.

"Ani tash ba?!"

Jihyo raised an eyebrow. Oh wait, he was yelling in their weird, native tongue.

Himchan pointed at him in a scolding way. "Korean only."

"Why is there so little food?!"

Okay, so that must be the translation for what he said previously.

"Put your mask back on." Himchan commanded.

Daehyun refused. "Explain this first."

"Mask first."

"Tch..." sighing in defeat, Daehyun did as told.

"You did not handle Jihyo's situation correctly. You'll get proper portions next feeding period."

"Jihyo was the one that confused me..." Daehyun muttered.

"General, I heard Daehyun blaming Jihyo for his misfortune." Jongup pointed.

Daehyun turned to look at him, glaring.

"By the way, the Earthian has been standing here the whole time." Yongguk said nonchantly as he continued eating.

Both Himchan and Daehyun turned their heads toward her direction.

"I guess you heard all that." Himchan said.

"O-Oh, I-I'm sorry..." Daehyun said nervously.

"He's only sorry 'cause he got caught." said Youngjae, his eyes fixated on a project he was handling with his tablet.

Daehyun looked at Youngjae like his best friend had betrayed him. Youngjae was too busy to notice, though.

"Enough. Just finish up, then we'll conduct our meeting." That was Himchan's inital plan, until--"Nevermind, we need to talk about this now."

"Can we still eat?" Jongup asked.

He nodded, grabbing his plate and standing before everyone as his way of granting permission.

Jihyo sat on the arm of one of the sofas with her plate on her lap, with Zelo sitting upon said sofa holding her other plate for her. Himchan took notice, and pointed "Hey, is there something wrong, Earthian?"

Jihyo looked up at him. "Huh? No... why?"

"Why does Zelo have your other plate?"

"He's just holding it for me."

Zelo nodded in confirmation.

He didn't say anything, but obviously believed the confirmation and began to conduct the meeting. Huh, Jihyo thought, was he worried she didn't like what he made?

"Hey, why does Jihyo have so much?" Daehyun complained.

"To make you ask questions. Now..." Himchan's response caused Daehyun to sigh in annoyance, but really, Himchan had no time for this. The biggest issue was---"Last night, the Governor contacted."

Silence swept the room. Youngjae and Zelo were already aware of this, but this was news to the other three.

"What does she want?" Yongguk asked.

"A damn progress report." Himchan sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "That woman, I swear... we barely landed and she expects results?"

"Think you can produce them?"

"What? Are you saying I can't?"

Yongguk set his plate aside. "Yesterday was a disaster."

"That circumstance was out of my control, and you know it. Keke was an idiot, and Jihyo--" he looked over at her with frustration, which caused her to flinch. He could've said something, but took a deep breath and reworded. "--her _allies_ on this planet seem to be problematic."

"Just say it." Yongguk nodded toward Jihyo's direction. "The Earthian hasn't proven to be much use to this mission, has she?"

"One day isn't a valid assessment."

"It's not a valid assessment for me either!" Jihyo suddenly stood up, much to everyone's shock, with a fire in her eyes.

"I think the Earthian is challenging you, _General."_ Yongguk said.

"N-No I'm not..."

"Then what are you doing?"

"W-Well, I..." Jihyo trailed off, feeling very sorry for having said anything at all. "I-I mean... y-you're all strangers to me, and..."

Losing her courage, Jihyo plopped herself back on the chair's arm rest, hands neatly placed on her lap with her head hung low. This action caused all 6 of the Matoki aliens a short analysis on her, each one mustering up a conclusion in their head about why she was acting this way.

"She doesn't trust us." Yongguk concluded.

"It would seem that way." Youngjae nodded in agreement.

Himchan just sighed, putting his hand to his face.

Daehyun wondered if he really DID mess up that badly...

And Zelo? He was starting to feel a little sad.

Jongup's observation and conclusion was probably the most accurate, but he would say his piece later. He'd probably be written off anyway.

After a much awkward silence, Himchan spoke. "Park Jihyo."

His voice made her flinch, even though there wasn't anything threatening about his tone.

"Please state your complaint."

"I-It's fine, nevermind..." she didn't even look at him when she said this.

Once again, Himchan sighed but not in irritation as he usually does. He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "At least finish your food. You need nourishment and it's not very good cold."

With a couple of shoulder taps, he turned around and walked off. Jihyo was both surprised and confused by that.

* * *

The rest of the day continued awkwardly. She received no orders from Himchan to do any errands, and everybody else practically did their own thing--not leaving the apartment, of course. Until they get used to this planet, Himchan has stated nobody goes anywhere without Jihyo. That made her feel real important, or it did... but in just one day, her success turned into failure and she was starting to think the General would have no qualms disposing of her.

_"The Earthian hasn't proven to be much use to this mission, has she?"_

Yongguk's words echoed in her mind. It's not like he was wrong, she thought. Despite his obvious challenge of authority which drives Himchan up the wall, he's bound to agree with him at some point. He probably had enough persuasive power only rivaled by the brainbox that was Youngjae. Then again, there was also Zelo, who has grown quite attached to her. But he was a robot, he must do as his master wills, right?

Several times that night, her phone kept buzzing. They were most likely texts from Jeongyeon or Mina about tomorrow's coffee shop outing. Jihyo had nearly forgotten about that, and she simply assumed the messages were a demand for answers due to yesterday's fiasco.

She sat on the floor of her living room with only a dim lamp on, staring at a small shelf with various books, manga, and DVDs. Everyone else had already went to sleep in their vessels, even Zelo this time. He was probably due for a recharge, anyway.

At least, she thought all of them went to sleep...

Crouching down next to her, she was startled to see Jongup there, taking an interest in the shelf. Containing an internal scream, she jumped back a little. Jongup was the alien she currently had _the least_ interaction with, so naturally she'd be a bit weary.

He noticed her startlement. "Oh. I'm sorry."

His voice was very soft and calm, then again she can't remember him having any other tone.

She laughed nervously. "N-No big deal..."

"It's alright for you to say it." he told her. "I make you nervous. So does the rest of us, huh?"

Well, he wasn't too far off. Jihyo bit her lip, not sure how to respond to that.

"That's alright, too. Aliens are foreigners in the extreme sense. You don't know our motives or anything about where we come from."

She slightly nodded, that wasn't entirely wrong, but--"I've always wanted to meet aliens though!"

"Me too."

"Huh?" that intrigued her.

"This is my first space traverse. I have the least experience with these type of missions, most of the ones I've been on were on Mato. Because it's an emergency, the Governor enlisted all 6 of us to come here because we were the best."

Jihyo does recall the contact last night where Governor Hyoseong reminded General Himchan that this mission was vital to the survival of their planet. She wanted to ask about that so badly, but figured it'd be classified information.

"You should've told the General what you wanted to say. He is a good listener."

Jihyo looked at Jongup like he was insane. "Huh?! No... no way...."

It wasn't that she didn't believe that statement, it's just that, well, he is an alien general of an elite class of soldiers from a planet called Mato, while she? She was a normal, earth-inhabiting girl that worked at a convenient store and tried to contact aliens in her spare time. She was weird, at best. But nothing special. So what gives her the right to raise a complaint toward such authority?

"I like our General. He notices everybody." Jongup told her. "Sometimes I feel the least useful to our group."

Looking at his arms, Jihyo found that hard to believe since from his appearance, he looked even stronger than Mato's fiercest killer, but she listened anyway.

"Even though I feel invisible to the group at times, General Himchan always saw me. He always gave me something to do and was happy when I carried out his commands. I think I gave him the least headache." he laughed slightly after saying this. "It's not fun being scolded by him, which I'm sure you're aware of by now. But he is a kind general that worries about all his subordinates--that includes Jihyo."

"Me?" she wasn't sure what to think about that. First off, this would mean he considers her one of his "subordinates", and she wasn't sure whether this was positive or negative. But furthermore, the idea that this alien who has barely known her for over a day already feels the need to be concerned for her? Couldn't fathom it. It was ridiculous, at best.

"You want to know about our mission, don't you?"

Jihyo couldn't hide the widening of her eyes when he stated that. If Jongup was anything, she would call him _perceptive._

"If you ask, he'll tell you."

"Yeah, well... I don't think a certain person would let that happen..."

"Bang Yongguk doesn't dislike you either."

* * *

Unbeknowst to everyone, standing outside the apartment complex despite Himchan's explicit orders were Yongguk and Zelo. He was curious to his robot's sudden fondness of the Earthian.

"Tell me why you like her." he said, his arms crossed with genuine curiosity.

Zelo had to think about it. He wasn't sure if he could answer, so he simply shrugged, "I just really like her."

Yongguk nodded slowly, almost breaking a smirk at the severe obvious laced in that staement. "Okay.... _why?"_

He tilted his head, "Because I like her?"

At this point, Yongguk was already losing it to laughter. He put his hand on his android's head, giving his hair a good ruffling. For whatever reason, he felt even more proud of his android. "You will protect the Earthian, right?"

Zelo nodded with a bright smile on his face. Yongguk was full on beaming, like he achieved some great thing with Zelo. The reason he felt so proud was Zelo's ability to like someone by his own will, the fact he wanted to protect Jihyo because he "liked her" rather than because he's been ordered to. It was truly fascinating.

"What are you doing out here?"

Yongguk's smile suddenly disappeared, and he wore his usual, serious expression. "Analysing Zelo's programming, General."

Himchan, with his hands in his pant pockets, took a few steps forward. "I told you never to leave Park Jihyo's apartment without her presence in tow."

"I haven't left. We're still here, just outside."

"Go back inside." Himchan pulled out his right hand with a snap, pointing toward the stairs that led to her unit.

Not wanting to argue, he nodded, and started walking that direction with Zelo behind him.

"Hold it." Himchan pulled out a water bottle and slammed it toward Yongguk's stomach. "You're dehydrated."

Yongguk took the bottle with a nod and proceeded inside.

What a pain this mission has turned out to be. Himchan already had to deal with his interesting set of subordinates coupled with a nagging governor, and to top it all off.. an alien-fascinated Earthian whom took them under her wing with little objection. Aside from this morning, that is. He knew that bold statement of _a day isn't a valid assement for me either_ concerned their presence. Was she sick of them? Was she scared of them? Did she not fully trust them? Could he really blame her?

The survival of planet Mato depended on B.A.P and their successful "invasion" of Earth. Well, they have successfully "invaded" already, they landed after all. He told Youngjae to properly explain to the Earthian in the recording he ordered sent to her computing device. Could there have been a miscommunication?

* * *

"She hasn't responded all day!" Mina panicked.

"Why would she? You've already sent 12 messages only a minute apart." Jeongyeon told her.

"Still, it's unlike her." Mina grabbed a light sweater and threw it on. "I'm going to see if she's OK."

"Mina..." Jeongyeon whined.

"You coming or not?"

"Fine...."

Jeongyeon reluctantly followed Mina out the door and headed for Jihyo's place that night. Sure, they had a planned coffee shop date tomorrow, but didn't Mina say herself don't be surprised she cancel on account of that boy? Mina seemed all excited until the supermarket incident. Just the mere thought of it had Jeongyeon's head spinning. "Give her space, she says," she mumbled. "This is what she needs, she says. Ha... what a turn of events..."

Himchan was about to enter the apartment again until he heard the approaching footsteps of the two girls. He quickly hid behind a bush and watched the two girls march up the stairs to Jihyo's door. Earlier, Yongguk and Zelo had went back inside only a couple minutes prior.

When they entered, that alone startled Jihyo and even Jongup, since they didn't know they were out.

"Take off your shoes!" Jihyo reminded.

Not saying anything, Yongguk kicked off his shoes whilst chugging down a full bottle of water. He then commanded his android to get in his vessel first. Zelo nodded, even though he really wanted to stay with Jihyo, but his recharge wasn't finished, so...

Yongguk walked up to Jihyo and held out the winder bunny plush. "Sleep with this tonight."

"Uhh... o-okay" Jihyo looked up in confusion, slowly taking the plush out of his hand. "But, isn't this...?"

"Zelo is in charge of protecting the Earthian."

Jihyo simply nodded. She wasn't going to argue with him. Now that that was done, Yongguk went to get ready to sleep.

"I hope I don't break this..." Jihyo said with concern.

"Youngjae designed these. They can withstand a lot of force." Jongup told her. "You could accidentally roll on it and it'll be fine."

Jihyo looked at the plush with awe. She didn't think they could get anymore amazing, but alas--they did.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on her door.

"Ugh, did anyone else go outside when I wasn't looking?" Jihyo marched over to the door, still holding Zelo's plush, and opened it without thinking. "Didn't Himchan tell you guys--" she froze when she saw Mina and Jeongyeon standing there. "Uhh..."

"Himchan?" Jeongyeon questioned.

Without even blinking, the wide-eyed Jihyo quickly shut the door and ran across to her room.

"Jihyo?" Jongup called.

"Shhhh! They'll hear you!"

"Jihyo? Park Jihyo!" Mina's muffled voice came through the door, followed by some knocking. "Jihyo, are you alright?"

"I don't think they're going away..." Jongup stated.

"Ohhh..." if Jihyo wasn't in trouble before, she sure was now. Who knew that finally being right, that making contact with aliens only seemed to complicate things _further_ for her. Trying to push her anxiety from her outward appearance aside, Jihyo mustered up the courage to open the door again, still holding Zelo's plushie in hand. "Hi guys, sorry I haven't been answering your texts, but I'm fine so you can go away now."

And with that, she slammed the door again.

"I don't think she's OK." Jeongyeon said.

"That bunny..." Mina said this with a spaced-out look.

"What about it?"

"That boy was carrying it with him the other day. Now she has it!"

"And?"

"I knew it, he is _definitely_ her boyfriend!"

"But you just said---"

"Nevermind. I'll get answers from her tomorrow."

Mina went ahead down the stairs, and Jeongyeon just sighed with an eye roll--following her friend into the night. Himchan had observed all this and finally emerged from behind the bush when the coast was clear. "The Earthian wasn't kidding... it's complicated."


	8. CH7: Unauthorized

"General Tatsmato."

It was an important summons from Mato's ruler. The Governor had called for the man in charge of the planet's best unit of elite soldiers.

He stood there, giving a bow to honour his superior, then stood straight up with his hands behind his back. "Yes, Governor?"

"Every man under your authority are of the required skill for this mission." she told him. "The survival of our planet depends on the success of this mission. Do you understand?"

He nodded, "Of course, Governor."

She pulled out what looked like a thin version of a pool stick and pointed to a holographic image. Tatsmato and the Governor were the only two in the room right now.

"This is a planet known as Earth. However, we've lost the coordinates."

"How is that possible?"

"The data is corrupted. I'm not sure if it was sabotaged or simply the failure of the machines itself, but no matter the answer... _the coordinates are gone."_

"So what can I do?"

"Get on your ship and see if there is any way you can procure them. Jokomato is your intelligence, right? I'm sure he can offer you some useful ideas."

"I'll see what I can do."

"The invasion of Earth is the only option left for us now. Call your subordinates, I'll continue briefing as soon as they are all present..."

Himchan woke up gasping, his dream being a recollection of when he first accepted this mission. His forehead was dripping with sweat. He remembered the intensity of the meeting, how serious the Governor was despite her usual persona. It was pure luck that he was able to seize Earth's coordinates, all because of an Earthian girl's fascination of meeting non-earthly beings.

He really owes Jihyo a lot.

That's when he made a decision.

Walking over to her room (which the door was left open), he stood outside the frame. Jihyo was sound asleep, hugging the plushie bunny Zelo happened to reside in for recharge. "Jihyo..."

"Nng...hm?" she answered, not fully awake.

"Tomorrow, I'll tell you our mission."

"Okay..."

* * *

It was now Sunday.

Jihyo was suddenly coming to, yawning and stretching. She nearly forgot that Zelo had technically been with her this whole time, albeit via plushie. "Oh, good.... it didn't break."

Rubbing her eyes, Jihyo struggled out of bed and wandered into the living area. It appeared nobody was awake, or at least not yet. "Guess they're all still asleep..."

"Jihyo."

With a squeak of startlement, Jihyo did a 180 degree jump to find Himchan standing behind her. "Haaa.... don't do that, I'm still not used to you guys living here!"

"I'm going to tell you about the mission."

"Okay, so... what do you want me to help you with this time?"

He shook his head. "No, I meant _our mission._ Why we invaded Earth in the first place."

Invaded? Why is he using that as a past-tense like they already done it? Still, it seems this briefing would answer all the questions she's been keeping inside since they got here, so Jihyo nodded. "Okay. Tell me."

"First..." Himchan put his hand on his forehead, looking like he was mustering all his strength to stay awake. "...I need caffeine."

"Oh, uh..." Jihyo ran to the cupboards, only to discover she had no instant coffee left. "Aheh... ummm..." she scratched the back of her head, smiling nervously. "There's a really nice coffee shop we could go. Um, it's nice and quiet, it's hardly a busy place like some other shops."

"Fine, let's go then."

"Okay. Oh--" Jihyo quickly grabbed a notepad and pen, writing down a message and taping it to the refrigerator.

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving a message for the others when they wake up." Jihyo grabbed her bag, then realised she was still holding the winder bunny plush. "Haha, almost took him with me." she gave it a little kiss, then set it down on the sofa with the rest. Himchan had an odd expression when he saw her do that, but didn't comment on it.

The two left the apartment in the early morning; you could see the sky dimly lit and the stars muted, but the sun wasn't quite ready to peak its head into visibility. "It's good we're going early," she said. "They've barely opened up, so there shouldn't be much customers. It's a perfect time to talk!"

Himchan just simply nodded and followed Jihyo, too tired and withdraw-stricken to communicate properly. All he cared about at this point was that he got his caffeine, then he could function properly.

Jihyo went through the door, causing the little bells to chime as she entered with Himchan in tow. A girl not too much older than herself was currently cleaning the counter until she saw Jihyo enter. Noticing, she smiled brightly and waved happily as they approached the counter. "Jihyo!"

"Hi Nayeon, just the usual for me, and uh..." she looked at Himchan for a second. "Uhh... do you like ice?"

"Yes."

"Iced coffee too, please."

Jihyo noticed Nayeon frozen, staring at Himchan. "Uh, Nayeon?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. That'll be..." Nayeon quickly plugged that into the register and told them the price. "I'll be over with your drinks momentarily."

"Thanks."

After paying for everything, Jihyo went to one of the small tables by the window, Himchan sitting on the other side of it. She was eager to hear all the details the general was about to lay before her.

* * *

It wasn't too long after their departure that the remaining 5 aliens awoke and emerged from their bunny vessels. They all scattered around the apartment, all but Zelo, who remained sitting on the sofa in thought. When inside a bunny vessel, a person (if awake) can see through the eyes of the plushie. Zelo recalls the little gesture Jihyo did before putting him down and leaving, and he wondered what that meant.

"Ey, where's the Earthian?" Yongguk asked.

"She left with the General." Zelo told him.

"Hm?" Daehyun ripped the message from the refrigerator, pulling his mouth mask down as he read it. "Oh, she says we can entertain ourselves while they're gone."

"What does she mean by that?" asked Jongup.

"Ah, she probably means the various devices in the house." Youngjae explained. "Like the TV, radio, etcetra."

"She says to use headphones if we use the radio." Daehyun pointed out.

"Probably to not disturb the person with the TV."

Jongup immediately took the remote and jumped over onto the sofa to the right side of Zelo, pressing the power button to bring the TV to life. There happened to be an animated feature on the screen, which immediately drew his attention. "This looks good. Let's watch this."

"What's it even about?" Yongguk asked, in a tone that was indifferent.

Youngjae got his tablet, searching up the title on the Earthian interwebs. "It's an anime feature film in a post-apocalyptic future with two warring factions and the secret interactions of members."

That seemed to peak Yongguk's interest the moment he heard "warring factions". He sat on the left side of Zelo, putting his arm around his shoulder, saying, "Watch carefully. You can learn something from this."

Zelo nodded in compliance, locking his gaze on the screen. When master says something is important, he devotes all his focus.

* * *

"Our planet is dying."

Jihyo wasn't expecting that. "What?"

Himchan nodded. "Invading Earth was our last remaining option. If it wasn't for your signal, we might have failed..."

This was a lot Jihyo had to take in. Himchan finished his explanation about why they were here, which had something to do with needing to find some sort of power source to keep their planet running. She wasn't sure how to feel about the fact she saved the day with being an alien enthusiast. Her sending out signals didn't only contact aliens, she might have even saved an entire colony of them. Or gave them the hope of it, at least. Still, there was one thing bothering her...

"But what do you mean by invasion?" she asked.

Himchan seemed a bit confused and shrugged. "Just what it sounds like."

Her eyes grew wide. "So you really are planning to conquer us?!"

"Conquer?"

"Yeah! Like take over the world and make us your slaves!"

Himchan shook his head.

"No?"

He nodded.

"But you said invade--"

"Because we are here without the permission or to the knowledge of your planet's government."

"Ohhh..." she got it now. They took "invasion" to mean along the lines of infiltration or illegal entry.

Jihyo turned and was a bit surprised to see Nayeon standing there like she was eavesdropping. Nervously, the girl quickly tried to play it off and gave them their order. "S-Sorry I took so long. Here's your usual, Jihyo, and..." she looked at Himchan, staring a good 2 seconds before placing his order before him. "And iced coffee for you. H-Here's a slice of cake, on the house."

With that, Nayeon quickly scurried away.

Himchan looked at Jihyo with a serious expression. "How much do you think she heard?"

"I don't know, she couldn't have been standing there that long!"

"Go find out." Himchan took a slurp of his iced coffee and instantly felt rejuvenated.

Jihyo nodded, getting out of her seat and walking over to Nayeon. Probably best that she was sent to talk to her rather than him--who knows what he would've done. Luckily they were the only customers right now.

Nayeon noticed Jihyo approaching, and she smiled as she joined her side. "Jihyo, who's that really handsome guy you're with?"

"Himchan." she said that without thinking, then again that's not even his real name, so...

"Hnng, oh my gosh, you're so lucky!" Nayeon noticed Himchan starting to eat the cake. "Is he eating my cake? Ohh, I hope he likes it!"

Jihyo moaned. "Would you please stop staring at him?"

"Huh? Sorry, I just.... wait!" now she felt guilty. "I am SO SORRY, he's your boyfriend, isn't he?"

"What? _No!"_

"Oh.... can I have him then?"

Jihyo facepalmed. "Nayeon... this is important. We need to talk."

She nodded intently. "I'm all ears."

"How much of that conversation did you hear? Don't lie, I know you were listening in..."

"Well, uh..." Nayeon fiddled with the ends of her apron, embarrassed. "Just something about dying and not obtaining permission to be here?"

Jihyo sighed. "Great... listen, you can't tell ANYONE about him. It's... _complicated."_

"Oh, I see..." she suddenly gasped, putting her hand to her mouth. "Awww, is he from the north?"

Frustrated, Jihyo grabbed her friend's shoulders and started shaking her. "No, no, no! He is an _alien!"_ Jihyo realized what she just did and tried to retract it. "Crap, no... no, he's not, yeah... he's from the north. Sure."

Nayeon gasped, it was too late--she had already digested 'alien'. "Whoa, so project TWICE really worked?" she looked over at Himchan. "I didn't know aliens could be _so hot!"_

Ohhh... you really did it now, Jihyo. Nayeon has this thing about her that no matter what you try to hide, you accidentally spill it to her anyway. She's a dangerous existence. Jihyo was a regular at this coffee shop and came to be quite friendly towards Nayeon, sadly one day spilling the beans about her TWICE project. Though instead of being met with disgust or worry (like with Jeongyeon and Mina), she was met with sheer fascination. If anyone was going to believe her, it'd be Nayeon.

Meanwhile, back at home...

Daehyun was listening to various songs on the radio, quickly learning the lyrics and mouthing the words of what would be played frequently. Youngjae was immersed in some gaming apps he found on the Earthian web; he had to run a sort of "source port" to get them to work, but he managed. That left the other 3, completely engaged in the anime movie that was currently airing on the television.

The 3 were glued to the screen for completely different reasons. First off, Jongup absolutely loved the art style and fluid animation. It amazed him the kind of complex storytelling a series of still images could tell, he knew a lot of effort must had been put by the drawing team. Yongguk was interested in why the two factions were fighting and curious if either side would resolve anything, or the conflict would viciously continue in a circle. And Zelo? The order from Yongguk to analyse the film was programmed in his mind, but he ended up picking up other details than Yongguk probably intended for him to see.

A scene came up, involving the male lead wanting to show a girl he really cared about that he "liked" her. Zelo became invested in these two characters because they seemed like good friends, with the guy wanting to protect her and spend time with her, etc. it made him think of Jihyo.

You could imagine the android's shock when he saw the guy take the girl in his arms and embraced his lips against hers as a show of affection. His eyes grew wide and his mouth opened to form a perfect O shape.

Jongup just started laughing as he stuffed popcorn in his mouth and Yongguk was shaking his head. Both of their reactions were simply due to the sudden random cut of the scene unexpectedly, so it was comedic to Jongup and poorly written to Yongguk. For Zelo, it caused the gears to turn in his head. Zelo was very innocent, and assumed expression of friendship might differ between the sexes. He thought it was similar to how Koreans have different words of address depending if you're a boy or a girl; like how males use _hyung_ and _noona,_ and girls use _oppa_ and _unnie_ to refer to those older than them. ' _I wonder if I should try that with Jihyo.'_

Both Jongup and Yongguk suddenly noticed Zelo's frozen expression and wondered what was going on in his head.

* * *

"Listen, you can't tell ANYONE! Got it?"

Nayeon nodded, creating a zipping motion with her fingers across her lips.

"And pretend you don't know anything around him, 'cause--"

"Park Jihyo!"

Jihyo flinched, immediately hugging Nayeon for safety as she saw Himchan was standing there. Nayeon, however, had her eyes wide in wonder trying to surpress her inner excitement.

Himchan briefly looked at Nayeon before returning his attention back to Jihyo. "How much does she know?"

"N-Not much..."

Himchan's intimidating gaze turned to Nayeon. "How much do you know?"

Her smile grew wide, holding her hands together. "That you're from space~"

He nodded, really trying not to explode right now. "Anything else?"

She shook her head.

He exhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down. Okay, so Jihyo kept her mouth shut about the mission at least. Still, this was problematic.

"Sh-She's not a threat, I promise!" Jihyo quickly stated. "Please don't hurt her..."

Himchan turned his head. "Name, Earthian."

"Im Nayeon, sir!" she replied.

"What can you offer?"

"Free coffee?"

He nodded. "Okay. I'll spare you."

Jihyo released a sigh of relief, plopping down on a nearby chair and putting her hand on her chest.

Himchan decided to quickly brief Nayeon whilst the coffee shop remained empty. Little did they know another regular was on his way for a visit...

Jung Hoseok, hair dyed wine red to try a new look, had pepped talked himself all night and to this moment to muster up the courage to ask his favourite coffee shop girl on a date. That girl was Im Nayeon. Imagine his surprise walking through the door to find Nayeon excitedly listening to another man talk to her.

"By the way, did you like the cake?" Nayeon asked shyly.

Himchan nodded.

"Eeee!" she could hardly keep her squealing in, but she tried her best to surpress it. Just then, she noticed Hoseok who was almost walking out the door. "Oh! Hoseok, good morning!"

"O-Oh, hi. Yes, good morning." he quickly mustered up a smile and took a few steps forward, his hands in his pant pockets. "T-Talking to customers, I see."

"Yeah, want to meet him?" Nayeon quickly grabbed Hoseok by the arm and put her hand out to introduce him. "This is Kim Himchan."

Hoseok's eyes grew wide when he saw his face. _'Crap, I can't compete with that!'_

Nayeon leaned in his ear and whispered, _"He's an alien!"_

"EARTHIAN!"

Nayeon flinched when Himchan yelled that. "Sorry, sorry!"

Even Jihyo had to facepalm at this. She was starting to really empathise with the General's pain.

Himchan seethed, regretting having come here. About to scold Nayeon, a strange beeping sounded and he groaned. He pulled out a weird device with a screen on it, pressing a button and saying, "What is it, Governor?"

"Himchan! How come I have to be the one always having to contact you? You never call me!" she whined.

"Whoa, is that his girlfriend or something?" Hoseok wondered.

Himchan lifted his eyes, glaring sharply.

He quickly put his hands up. "I-I'm sorry, I just thought... I mean, she looks very beautiful, you'd be crazy not to---"

"Hey, where's that voice coming from? Kim Himchan, what's going on?"

Himchan seethed, balling his hand into a fist and wanting to punch the screen. Still, he managed to regain his composure, answering, "Two new recruited Earthians, Governor."

"Wow! So glad you're capturing so many good natives on that planet! We need all the help we can get!"

"Excuse me, did she just say captured?" Hoseok's voice nearly cracked.

"Her Earthian speech is a little confused." Himchan told him.

"Is the first one with you?" she asked.

Himchan turned to look at Jihyo, waving her to come over.

"Ahhh, Jihyo was it? Thank you for taking good care of B.A.P!" Hyoseong clapped as she stated this. "Now... let me see the other two."

Himchan faced the screen in front of the two so Hyoseong could see them. "Names, please."

Nayeon straightened up with a salute. "Im Nayeon, at your service!"

"Uhh... I'm... Jung Hoseok." he nodded, laughing a bit nervously. What the hell was he just roped into to?

Hyoseong smiled a bright smile that mesmerised everyone. Even Himchan had to admit his governor had a beautiful smile that could not be matched. "You are now under Mato's authority." she told them. "Please listen to everything General Tatsmato has to say."

And with that, the call ended.

Himchan could feel a headache coming again, and this time it was not due to caffeine withdraw. "Nayeon..."

"Yes, sir?"

"My first order as your General is to shut up. Do not tell any unauthorised personnel again."

"Aheh..." she scratched the back of her head nervously, then bowed in apology. "I'm truly sorry."

His gaze then fell on Hoseok. "Keep an eye on her. You seem responsible."

"Uh, yeah! Sure, sure!" he nodded, looking over at Nayeon. At least he wasn't roped into this alone. He gets to be with Nayeon, right?

"Park Jihyo." Himchan stood in front of her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's fine. I'm not that mad." he looked back at the other earthians and sighed. "Let's just brief the other one at home..."

Jihyo nodded. "Good idea."

* * *

"Do you think Jihyo got my text about meeting in the morning instead?" said Mina, frantically checking her messages as she and Jeongyeon were on their way to Jihyo's favourite coffee shop.

"Considering yesterday? No."

As they were walking, Mina suddenly gasped, pulling Jeongyeon as they hid behind a corner.

"What the---!"

"Shhh!" Mina was peaking from behind the corner, spying Jihyo following 3 other individuals exiting the  coffee shop.

"Ugh, what now, Mina?" Jeongyeon complained.

Mina turned to look at her. "I just saw Jihyo leave with 3 other people!"

"So?"

"Something's up. We need to find out what. Let's just come back here at the original time we planned."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Nayeon was added to the cast per my brother's request.  
> \- I ended up adding BTS' Hoseok on a whim, as I thought he'd be a cute match for Nayeon with little jealous moments everytime she fangirls over Himchan.


	9. CH8: Like

Everyone was still occupying themselves, until the door burst open.

Zelo jumped up from the sofa happily. "Jihyo's back!"

He ran over to her and unexpectedly lifted her in the air in a tight embrace, spinning around. Jihyo was initially taken aback, but started giggling.

Himchan stood beside Yongguk, tilting his head toward the spectacle. "Why's he doing that?"

"He saw it on TV." he replied.

"Whoa! There are more of you?!" Nayeon sighed in delight, absolutely fascinated as she stepped inside Jihyo's apartment.

"Um... Nayeon, we should... take our shoes off first." Hoseok reminded, already proceeding to do just that.

"Oh, crap... hahaha..." she quickly tore off her shoes before taking a step further.

Zelo immediately noticed the two, gently setting Jihyo down and staring curiously. "Unauthorized personnel detected."

"Ah, no, no, no, Zelo!" Jihyo quickly ran in front of him.

"I brought them here." Himchan stated.

Yongguk looked at him. "You _what?"_

He sighed. "I'll explain later..."

Nayeon had already run loose around the apartment. She plopped herself down on the sofa next to Jongup, staring at him with big eyes and mouth open. She immediately took notice of his muscular arms. "Whoa.... he looks dangerous."

"Eh..." Jongup just smiled awkwardly at the strange girl, lifting up his hand timidly in greeting.

Jihyo shook her head. "That one isn't dangerous." she pointed toward Yongguk with her thumb. _"That one is."_

Nayeon turned to find Yongguk standing there with his arms crossed, staring back at her harshly. "I see what you mean..."

"N-Nayeon, maybe we should..." Hoseok was trying to suggest leaving, but then he saw the General's expression, as if telling him _you're not leaving until I'm done with you._

"General, what's up with you?" Youngjae asked. "It's weird for you to be so trusting toward foreign planet inhabitants."

"It's _complicated."_ Himchan eyed Jihyo sharply when he said this.

Nayeon gasped when she laid eyes on Youngjae. "Awww, this one is so cute!"

"Huh?" he stared at the weird girl, blushing a bit once digesting her comment. "Ah well, not really..."

"Ohh, stop it! You're making yourself even cuter~"

"I want to go home..." Hoseok moaned under his breath.

"Do you like her?"

Hoseok jumped in startlement, finding Zelo standing next to him. His astonishment lingered at the realization of the boy's incredible height. _'Holy crap, he's a freakin' tower!'_

"You keep staring at that girl. Do you like her?" Zelo asked again.

"Perceptive little..." he muttered. "What's it to you?"

"You should kiss her."

Hoseok just stared at him weirdly. "W-Why?"

"Because you like her."

"Heh, easy for you to say..." he then looked toward Jihyo. "I doubt you'd--"

"I'm going to kiss her."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"I want Jihyo to know I like her very much." Zelo smiled brightly when he said this.

 _'Damn, this kid has more courage than me!'_ Hoseok was now feeling insulted. "Good luck with that..."

"Who are you?"

"Tch, dammit!" Hoseok was getting sick of all these surprises. "How many more of you are there?!"

"No one." There stood Daehyun, who had just exited the bathroom without having made a sound. He pulled down his mouth mask when he answered.

Hoseok sighed in relief, trying to regain his mental composure.

Nayeon squeaked when she saw Daehyun, running over to him in her continued fascination. "Oh my gosh, there's one more?! Hi! I'm Im Nayeon!"

Daehyun's eyes were wide, confused how he should react, so he just pulled his mask back up and didn't say anything.

Himchan knew he owed his subordinates an explanation, so he raised his voice to get everyone's attention. "Listen up! These Earthians, Im Nayeon and Jung Hoseok, are under my command now. They have been authorised by the Governor herself."

Yongguk looked skeptical. "And how did that happen?"

"She happened to call..."

"Damn."

Youngjae set his tablet aside. Time for introductions again. He bowed with polite speech, "Greetings, I'm Yoo Youngjae from the planet Mato. Thank you for surrendering your services to our cause."

The way he worded that made Hoseok feel uncomfortable. He looked at Nayeon, amazed how she seemed unphased by that statement.

Youngjae continued, "We are the B.A.P, Mato's best soldier unit. Kim Himchan is our General, Bang Yongguk is the fiercest killer, Daehyun is our ninja, and Jongup is the 'yes man'. I'll allow Yongguk to explain Zelo."

"He was built and designed by me." Yongguk said this with a sense of pride in his voice, even smirking a little with a slight nod.

"Built?" Hoseok looked up at Zelo with a new found astonishment. Wait, but didn't he say he wanted to kiss...? Okay, now things were just getting weird.

Nayeon could hardly keep herself from squealing. Unable to contain herself, she started jumping with a few claps. Great, an Earthian version of the Governor, Himchan thought. At least he had the authority to tell _this one_ to be quiet.

"Jung Hoseok." Himchan called.

"Uh... yeah?" he stepped forward.

"Your first order is to acquire sustanance. And take Nayeon with you." he then looked at Jongup. "You go with them."

Jongup nodded, joining the two.

"Any.... _type_ of sustanance you're wanting?" Hoseok was really hoping it wasn't something weird.

"As long as it's edible."

"Pizza it is." he took Nayeon's hand. "Come on, Nayeon."

"Awww, do we have to go now?" she said, pouting.

"Yes. Please go away." Himchan commanded.

She pouted even more. "I'm only giving you leeway because you're handsome."

Hoseok wanted to throw up when she uttered that.

"Yes, I am. Now go away."

And Himchan's response didn't help.

"Wait, you need money!" Jihyo walked up to Hoseok, handing him a wad of cash that caused his eyes to nearly pop out. She just smiled with a wink, running her fingers through more cash. "Aliens are cool."

He just nodded slowly, but was still happy to get out of there, even if one was commanded to tail 'em. Once they left, Jihyo turned toward Himchan. "How about me?"

"Standby." he told her.

She sighed in relief. A true dayoff, she liked that. She went to her room, grabbing the notebook Youngjae gave her to document her adventures thus far.

"We have plenty of food, why'd you send them on that mission?" Yongguk asked.

"I don't feel like cooking right now." Himchan replied.

"I don't think so. You just wanted rest from that girl who's infatuated with you."

"Yeah, well the red headed one is infatuated with _her,_ so..."

"I don't think so. He is a lot like you."

"I wouldn't be able to endure such an insane girl."

"Then why do you adhere to our governor?"

"She is my superior, you expect me to disobey her? As a General of Mato, it is my duty to follow everything she says. Otherwise, it's treason."

"No, it's not. I hardly listen to _you."_

Himchan was about to hit him, but Yongguk grabbed his fist.

"Tch, believe what you want..." Himchan got up, moving to a different spot. He caught Daehyun munching on a chicken wing, and just snatched it out of his hand as he walked by.

"Hey!" Daehyun called.

"They're bringing back food. You can wait."

* * *

 

_'How did I get into this mess...?'_

Hoseok pondered this as he carried the most cash he's ever carried, his love interest Nayeon in tow, and a supposed 'alien' tailing them from behind. All of this on orders to procure sustanance.... which he decided would be _pizza._

"Ohhh... I really wanted to stay and study them more!" Nayeon whined.

"Why are you complaining? We got one following us." he told her.

"Oh yeah!" that suddenly brightened her up.

"Eh, but maybe you shouldn't upset him..."

"Oh, right." she sighed, but brightened up as she clutched onto Hoseok's arm. "I'm so glad you're on this adventure with me!"

He could feel his cheeks warm up a bit, not knowing what to say. For some reason, he turned his head to look at Jongup, who was giving him a thumbs up for some reason. Damn, was he perceptive too?

* * *

 

Jihyo's hand was tired from all her writing, yet she still perservered to finish her entry. She was so focused on the words that she was spilling onto the paper that she didn't notice Zelo enter her room and sit next to her on the bed. It wasn't until she felt a warm breath, she slightly turned her head to find him staring curiously over the page. She flinched, but she was getting used to surprises by now.

"What are you writing?" he asked curiously.

She pouted. "You're not going to erase it, are you?"

He shook his head.

She smiled in relief and decided to tell him. "About all of us. I like documenting interesting things that happen in my life, but Youngjae erased my computer entry."

"Your computer isn't very secure."

"So I've heard.... anyway, as an alternative, he gave me this!" she then started flapping her hand. "Ugh, I think I got a hand cramp though..."

Zelo suddenly took her hand that she was complaining about, analysing it carefully. He laid out her hand on top of his, and used his other hand to gently apply warmth and pressure to help it feel better. "Don't write anymore, or it'll hurt you."

Jihyo sighed, but then nodded with a warm smile. His gesture felt nice, her hand was already feeling better. "Thanks~"

The sound of the front door could be heard bursting open. It seems Hoseok and Nayeon (featuring Jongup) had finally returned from their mission. Each of them had about 3 boxes of large pizzas in hand. Hoseok wasn't sure how much these people could eat, and didn't bother with toppings, so they were all extra cheese. "There. Sustanance." he said, brushing his hands.

Daehyun, who was starving, quickly ran over there and practically ripped the box top off. His eyes widened at the sight of the melted cheese on saucy bread. Youngjae's attention was grabbed also, being drawn to it like an unfortunate fly to a lightbulb. "Hey, didn't they advertise this on the television?"

"Oh, you're back!" Jihyo came out of her room with Zelo right behind her. "Smells good~"

"What is that Earthian food substance?" Yongguk asked, pointing at it.

"They call it pizza."

"Like Youngjae said, they advertised on the TV a lot." Jongup reminded.

"So you mean that yellow rubber something bread stuff?"

"It's a lot more apetizing than you're making it sound." Hoseok shoved a plate toward him. "Just eat it."

Yongguk stared at it for a couple seconds, but eventually consumed it. He didn't complain, so he probably found it acceptable. "Zelo, get me more."

Nodding in total obidience, Zelo did just that. He also got a plate for Jihyo.

"Daehyun..." Himchan grabbed him by the collar. "What are you doing? You are not eating an entire box."

"You took my chicken!"

"That doesn't condone the consumption of 15 slices."

"I already put it on my plate, so it's mine."

"Tch..." Himchan pulled Daehyun's mask back up, getting sick of hearing him talk.

Jihyo didn't like seeing such childish fighting, and stepped in between them. "Hey, that's enough! We have plenty of food, we can get more if we run out." she quickly turned toward Daehyun, ripping his mouth mask off. "Gimme that. What do you even need this for, anyway?"

"Nn...!" Daehyun tried taking it back, but Jihyo refused. Everyone else was frozen in shock at what just happened.

"What?"

"Give that back to him." Himchan commanded.

"And why should I?"

"You don't understand, he needs that."

"Or what?"

While this little banter was going on, Youngjae was secretly trying to take some of Daehyun's pizza, only to be met with near ear-shattering screaming. "DON'T TOUCH!"

"The General is right, you took too much!"

"So what? I'm going to eat it all. Get your own. He stole my chicken anyway, so why should I listen to him at all!?"

Yongguk was crouched on the floor, laughing. That looked really bizzare to see Mato's most fiercest killer in such a state. Himchan, however, was far from amused--he was _mortified._

"Dude, it's just a mask, what's so bad if he doesn't wear it?" Hoseok asked.

Himchan slowly started laughing. Not in amusement, but in frustration. "You don't get it... that was to prevent him from _talking."_

"W-Why is it so bad if he talks?" Jihyo asked.

"Hey, HEY!" Daehyun screamed when Youngjae took one of his slices from over his shoulder and ran away. Himchan put out his hand toward the spectacle, "...that's why."

"YOUNGJAE!" Daehyun took one of the cushions and threw it at him, which caused him to drop his tablet.

.... it nearly error'd out.

"Hey... do you know how long it took me to PROGRAM THIS?!"

Yongguk was still in a corner, laughing hysterically. Jongup was getting concerned by the obvious stress levels rising in the general.

Himchan was seething. "Park Jihyo..."

Zelo quickly got into protective mode and stood behind Jihyo, locking his arms around her.

"Just.... let me use your bedroom. I need to be alone."

She didn't object. "Okay."

As he wandered off in that direction, he ripped the mask that Jihyo was holding out of her hand.

"I think he wants to rethink what should and shouldn't be confidential." Jongup said. "Youngjae and Daehyun are really noisy, but usually Youngjae can be mellowed out if Daehyun keeps quiet."

"Facinating..." Nayeon thought.

Hoseok just sighed. This was beginning to be a headache.

"Ugh... why do I keep screwing up?" Jihyo whined.

* * *

 

Himchan was by himself in the dark, holding his contact device as he sat on Jihyo's bed.

"Haaa... am I dreaming? Is that _Kim Himchan_ contacting me?"

"Yes, Governor..."

"I feel so touched~ You almost never call me!" she crossed her arms, pouting.

He rolled his eyes. "Listen, Governor, I need to--"

"AHHHHH!" a screaming noise could be heard in the distance. You could see some teenagers in dark uniforms running around in the background. The Governor looked back and scolded them, "Hey! No running in here, you could break the equipment!" As she turned back to the screen, she smiled. "They're precious, aren't they? The TRCNG unit is about ready to be launched. I decided to assign them Earthian names too, in case we need back up."

"That won't be nescessary..."

"I'm sending you the file of their names now."

Immediately, an encrypted file reached his device. Might as well adapt to the names she assigned them, which he did quickly. "Was Hayoung the one screaming?"

"Yes."

"You should mask him."

"Heh. Has that worked out for Daehyun?"

As soon as she said that, he could hear Daehyun belting out a high note and it seemed Jihyo wanted to compete with that. He cringed a bit, not because anything was off tune, it was just so loud. "It was working..."

"Producing more failing results, General?"

"If I was such a failure, why'd you send me on this mission?"

She smirked. "Because you're the best~"

He sighed. He was really sick of this woman's teasing, but obviously if she really did think lowly of him, he'd been demoted a long time ago, not climb to the highest military rank in which only the Governor herself can override his command. But that was not what he called for. "The original coordinates. Do you have any data what happened?"

Her demeanor changed into that of a serious one, slightly turning to the side with a waving gesture. "Jisung. Kangmin."

Two kids stepped forward, actually they weren't much younger than the others in the TRCNG unit. "Yes, Governor?"

"General Himchan wants to know of the data you collected on what happened to our original copy of Earth's coordinates."

"Ah, okay." Kangmin turned to the screen and saluted the general while Jisung typed something up on a small tablet he was holding. "General, we have concluded that it was _sabotage."_

Jisung lifted his eyes from the screen and added, "Of _exo_ tic nature."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- The part about Daehyun wearing a mask so he wouldn't talk is actually referencing something I heard, that during debut, he was to wear a mask to keep him from talking (since he was being portrayed as the silent one).  
> \- "Exotic" is referring to EXO. This term, before they had a fandom name, was what a lot of fans called themselves before, and I thought it would be suitable to call EXO "Exotics" since they are from Planet EXO (like how B.A.P are called Matoki, being from Planet Mato).  
> \- Since Hyoseong of Secret is, by canon, the Governor of Mato, I thought it'd be cool to have all TS artists from the same planet.


	10. CH9: Anomaly

"What the hell am I doing...?" Hoseok said to himself as he put the van in reverse and was leaving the parking lot.

It's been a week since that fateful day where he was going to confess to Nayeon, only to instead be roped into an unfortunate circumstance. That circumstance was being held "hostage" _by aliens._ So-called, anyway. No, actually after being with them for a week, he's finally accepted that they are who they say they are. Nayeon was completely elated by all this, while he? She's probably the only reason he's been able to trudge through all this.

Currently, he was on a mission. You see, Hoseok worked as an idol group driver for a certain label company. General Himchan, after learning that, had ordered him to take one of the vehicles to make "traversing your planet easier". Not only that, but he was ordered to quit his job so he could dedicate himself full time, and he would receive proper compensation like Jihyo did. Nayeon was only allowed to continue her job since _she offered free coffee._

And the only reason Hoseok isn't getting arrested right now for stealing company possession? Because the brainbox that is Youngjae is a good hacker, that's why. He took care of making sure that taking this vehicle, permanently, would be authorized.

Once he had driven aways from the parking lot, he brought the vehicle to a stop and unlocked the side door. There was General Himchan with all his subordinates, including Hoseok's fellow "hostages" Nayeon and Jihyo.

"Wow! I never rode in one of these before." Nayeon said excitedly, taking the passenger seat next to Hoseok.

"We can really all fit in there?" Jihyo questioned. "This must be made for those groups that are 10 or more!"

After most of B.A.P crawled in, Zelo helped Jihyo inside and sat next to her, shutting the door behind them. The center row had Jihyo in the middle, with Zelo to her right and Yongguk to her left. In the row behind them was Youngjae, Jongup, and Daehyun. Nayeon had to move over one, because Himchan was going to sit up front too. Luckily, the front was a triple seater.

Hoseok looked over at Himchan. "You know, with all those gold bars you have, how come we couldn't just _buy_ one of these?"

"You drive this vehicle often, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"New machinary have their own set of quirks that have yet to be verified. You have experience with this vehicle and probably can handle any of its hiccups."

"Well, yeah, but..." Hoseok sighed. No point in arguing, he got his point.

Now that a large enough vehicle had been procured, today's venture would simply just be _driving around_ so they could get used to the roads and sights. Yup, that's it, simply for mental-mapping. Hoseok couldn't complain too much, at least it was an easy mission, plus Nayeon was sitting right next to him. Only drawback was Himchan was sitting next to _her,_ so who do you think she's gonna stare at? This caused Hoseok to unconciously start glaring at him, which he took notice of. "Why are you staring at me? You're supposed to be driving."

"Crap, sorry...!" Hoseok quickly got the van in gear and started driving off.

Initially the drive started off quiet. Even though this was supposed to be a leisure mission, something very disturbing was weighing on everyone's minds.

Jihyo wanted to distract herself from thinking of it too much. She was always very inquisitive, but thought to be respectful and hold back. She pulled out her phone, only to frown upon seeing the ridiculous amount of text messages from Mina.

{ Jihyo!!! It's been a week, where are you? Please respond! }

Most of them looked like that.

Zelo leaned over to satisfy his curiosity of what she was looking at. He could sense that what was on the screen was not pleasant for her. "Who is contacting you?"

"Mina...." she sighed.

"Eventually you're going to have to respond to her." Yongguk stated.

She looked at him like he was crazy. "I-I can't do that, she'll--"

"You're making her more suspicious by keeping silent. If it were one of my comrads, I'd assume the worst."

Jihyo sighed. "You're right..."

"Mmm... I still do not understand how she is your friend but you keep avoiding her." Daehyun commented (whilst stuffing his face with potato chips).

"I don't either." Jongup added.

"Fine. I'll respond back." Jihyo hit the reply button and started composing a response.

While all this was happening, Youngjae was quietly working on something very important on his tablet, until he suddenly achieved results. "Ah... General."

"What is it?"

"I've torn apart the code and created a multi-layer shield. I don't think the Exotics will be able to hack into our mainframe again, or very unlikely."

Himchan nodded with approval. "Good. Send it over to the Governor, encrypted. Best if you can give it to her instantly through direct call."

"Yes, General." Youngjae quickly typed something to establish a connection.

"Hey... Youngjae." Yongguk called.

"Hm?"

"I'd like an adapted version installed into Zelo's defensive database."

"Sure, I can have it done within a day's time."

"Defensive...?" Jihyo's eyes widened with curiosity, turning her attention to Zelo.

"I've sustained damages because of them before..." he told her. "Accumilated error data and impaired functionality."

"Zelo is incapable of connecting to any sort of network." Yongguk explained. "The damages he's speaking about were direct attacks, not digital."

"Yeah, well I managed to implement some modifications to protect himself from those threats, but it's very experimental." Youngjae sighed as he stated this. "Technology isn't their biggest strength, they have something else so it's harder to combat."

"Like what?" Nayeon asked.

"Magic." Yongguk spat.

"I wouldn't call it _magic...."_ Youngjae quickly said.

"Then what do you call it?"

"Well, they're obviously connected to some sort of power source that manifest their abilities. With better understanding, I think it can be blocked by frequency."

"How dangerous are these Exotics, anyway?" Jihyo asked, worried.

"We can't answer that." Himchan replied. "We know almost nothing about EXO planet or their motives. What they wanted with our original copy of your planet's coordinates can't exactly be pleasant, but we can only speculate at this point."

"Two alien factions with an interest in Earth..." she said quietly to herself. It made her wonder about a lot of things, even briefly questioning the motives of the Matoki, but surely everything the General told her about simply needing to find something to save their dying planet wasn't a lie. It's not like there's some kind war of who gets to claim their planet, right?

"Jihyo..." Zelo took her hand, sensing her state of worry. "We won't hurt your planet. And we won't let anyone else."

* * *

 

To say Mina was frantic would be an understatement.

She and Jeongyeon hadn't had any contact with Jihyo, face to face or digital, for an entire _week._ Poor Jeongyeon had to be the victim of all her fantastical spews of what sort of things could have happened to their dear friend, so much so that Jeongyeon was _this close_ to tuning her out.

"--AND WHO KNOWS if we can really trust--" suddenly, a text notifcation came. Mina looked at her phone and gasped. "Jihyo... it's Jihyo!"

"Well, what does it say?" Jeongyeon leaned against Mina's head and focused her eyes downward on the screen.

{ I apologise for worrying you two. I'm alright, please don't worry about me. }

"See Mina? She's totally fine."

But Mina wasn't convinced. "No... no, she can't be fine. That would be what the _kidnappers_ told her to say!"

"Oh, for the love of---"

And things would only fuel her terrible imagination further, as the black van originally intended for idol transportation driven by Hoseok found parking only a few blocks from them down the street. Everyone exited the vehicle, as Nayeon needed to be dropped off at her job and Himchan was in need of caffeine. Therefore, everyone would be going together.

You can imagine the sheer confusion as Jihyo seemed to halt, frozen. Not only that, but despite the several feet of distance, it would appear Mina's and Jihyo's eyes briefly locked onto each other, giving enough time to compute Jihyo's presense. Thankfully, the amount of distance was long enough for her to take Zelo's hand and start running the other direction.

"Hey! Earthian!" Himchan yelled.

"Oh look, it's those friends of hers." Daehyun pointed out.

"Maybe we should follow Jihyo, that procelin one looks out for blood." Jongup stated.

Himchan nodded. "Agreed. Follow Jihyo."

And so, all of B.A.P followed suit, plus Nayeon and Hoseok of course.

By some string of luck, Jihyo was able to manuver, with the rest of everyone following her, around a corner and quickly into a karaoke place before her friends could've possibly seen them.

Jihyo was holding onto Zelo's arm as she tried catching her breath. They all happened to be standing in front of the sign up desk, causing the employee to ask, "This your entire party?"

"Huh?"

"Your party. You've made reservations, right?"

"Oh, uh..." she suddenly realised what was going on and quickly went up to the desk. "Uh, no, but if there's any vacancies, we would like to rent a room for a couple of hours or so for a party of..." she quickly started counting off her fingers. "...nine, please."

"Okay." the man at the desk nodded, quickly writing something down. "And the leader of your party?"

"Umm.... Jung Hoseok."

"Why does it have to be me?!"

"Sir, please deposit the amount of cash stated on the register." the cashier asked politely.

"Yes... fine." Well, it's not like he was truly paying for it anyway, it was these aliens and their gold bars that he has so many wons on him right now.

"Thank you very much." he pulled out a ticket and handed it to Hoseok. "Your room is down the hall, fifth door to the right. Have fun, and don't be afraid to take advantage of our food services."

With that done, everyone proceeded to the karaoke room they were designated. Due to the size of their party, they were given a fairly large room.

The younger members of B.A.P entered with sheer fascination. Yongguk didn't seem to care, and Himchan already couldn't wait for this to be over.

"So what do we do here?" Jongup ask.

Jihyo gestured her hand toward the karaoke machine. "Sing!"

"Is it okay if I go first?" Nayeon asked.

Jihyo nodded, smiling. "Sure~"

Nayeon took the mic and scrolled through the song list, landing on KARD's _Trust Me._ "Hey Hoseok! Could you do the rapping part for me?"

Hoseok seemed a bit hesitant. "I don't know..."

"Aww, come on, you're an excellent rapper!"

"I'm just not the in the mood right now."

Nayeon pouted. "You're no fun."

Himchan sighed witnessing that spectacle and raised his hand. "I'll do it."

She gasped. "Really?!"

"Eh..." Hoseok's eyes grew wide as Himchan approached the platform, taking the secondary mic whilst standing beside Nayeon. "So how does this work anyway?"

"On second thought...!" he snatched the mic from Himchan's hand. Didn't matter how rude that was toward the general, didn't cross his mind he could be packing and shoot him on the spot.

Lucky for him, Himchan was more shocked and taken aback than anything and just sat back down. Nayeon could hardly surpress her laughter. She just smiled at Hoseok before bringing the mic up to her mouth. Despite the inner embarrassment, Hoseok couldn't help but also feel glad to be dueting with her. It actually turned out to be a lovely performance.

Of course, he felt totally shaken up by the time it was over, but he survived. Once again, Zelo went up to him and said, "You should kiss her."

"Pfft, like you should talk. It's not like you've had any success with your girl." Hoseok realised how weird that sounded, considering he was talking to a robot.

However, that got the gears in Zelo's mind to start turning and he nodded. "You're right. I should try today."

Hoseok didn't expect to hear that. "Uh..."

"I want to try another one." Nayeon began scrolling through the list, only to be met with technical difficulties. "Hey, what the heck? It froze!"

She was about to hit it in her frustration, until Youngjae grabbed her wrist. "It's not good to treat machines like that."

"Yeah, well it's not good when machines don't work either."

"Let me have a look at it..." Youngjae pulled out some form of scanner to detect any issues.

Jihyo was giggling slightly, coming to Zelo's side. "Nayeon has always been so impatient. One time--" however, she noticed something was wrong. Zelo looked like he... was sick? "A-Are you okay?"

He took a step back, looking fatigued and confused. He only uttered this in response; "...shutdown, sorry."

And collapsed.

Jihyo put both her hands over her mouth to try and muffle her screaming. Feeling panicked, she fell on her knees and started shaking him. "Zelo? Zelo, are you okay?!"

"Calm down, calm down!" Youngjae quickly went over there.

"He probably lost charge." Yongguk stated in a surprisingly calm matter.

"No.... it's not that. He's barely used any of his charge." Youngjae quickly got out his tablet and started a procedure. "...it's this room."

"You don't think the karaoke machine did this, do you?" Nayeon said.

He shook his head. "No. The anomaly has that affected too, that's why it stopped working."

"We better leave." Himchan suggested. No, it wasn't a suggestion, it was a command. "Jongup, help Yongguk carry Zelo out."

He nodded, proceeding to do just that.

As soon as they exited the room, they put Zelo up against the wall and rebooted him. His eyes slowly opened and he shook his head, grabbing a tuff of his hair.

"Zelo?" Jihyo was right up in his face, worried.

He smiled brightly upon seeing her. "Jihyo."

Sighing in absolute relief, she threw her arms around him.

Yongguk went up to Himchan. "They're here, aren't they?"

"Zelo shouldn't stay here any longer. I'm going to contact the Governor."

With that said, he walked down the hall to find a safe place to establish connection.

Yongguk came up to Jihyo. "Earthian."

She looked up at him.

"Go somewhere else right now." he looked at Nayeon and Hoseok. "Them, too."

"Oh, umm... okay." she stood up, feeling a little disappointed to be separated.

"Take Zelo."

A smile curved upon her lips, so she took his hand and helped him back up. Jihyo, along with her fellow earthians plus Zelo, quickly exited the building.

The man at the sign up desk pulled back out of sight and quietly spoke into a strange device. "Chen, this is Xiumin. The target has left the building."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- In 'Tah-Dah, It's B.A.P!' whenever Zelo would randomly shut himself off, he would go, "shutdowm, sorry!"  
> \- In EXO's fictional backstory, they are from the planet EXO (which are split into two mirror'd sides) and each of the 12 have a unique power. Being also an "alien" Kpop group, I found they would be the perfect and only formidable enemy for B.A.P.


	11. CH10: Kiss

Everyone couldn't help but have an ominous feeling weigh upon them as they left the karaoke building. Why was B.A.P staying behind, except Zelo?

"I don't like this." Hoseok spoke up. "Things are getting too intense for me."

"But we can't just abandon them!" said Nayeon.

"I'm not saying that at all, it's just..." he sighed. "What can we do?"

"We wouldn't have been recruited if there was no use for us."

He seethed. "Might I remind you that I wasn't supposed to know..."

"Something _really bad_ could've happened to Zelo." Jihyo interjected. "Let's just get as far away as we can."

The two went silent hearing the emotion laced in her voice. There was no doubt that Jihyo was nearly as attached to Zelo as he was to her. It was rather painful seeing her so distressed when he collapsed earlier.

"W-Well... uh, we can't drive away without the others." Nayeon said.

"We'll just walk around until it's time to go. They'll find us."

Hoseok sighed. "At this rate, we'll probably find ourselves going home by foot."

Both Jihyo and Nayeon had to chuckle at that.

.... but you know something? Jihyo must have a divine fate tied with a certain duo who mysteriously always finds her.

The laws of coincidence must be shook, because the amount of times Jihyo has conveniently (or inconveniently) found herself before Mina and Jeongyeon has got to have reached a world record by now.

Mina's eyes widened. "Jihyo..."

"Nn..." Jihyo took a step back.

"Don't chase her." Jeongyeon warned.

"Jihyo, what's going on?" Mina asked, her voice cracking a bit.

"Uh, well..." she didn't know how to explain that. How do you explain a situation like this? "I-It's about Project TWICE."

"TWICE?"

She nodded. "Mmhmm."

"Jihyo... um... you don't... you know, if something's..."

Oh great, there was no convincing her. Mina already came up with her own conclusion and there was no way to persuade it.

.... so for the, what? 3rd or 4th time in her life, Jihyo decided to take Zelo's hand and _run._

Yes, Jihyo was aware this was not the best course of action. But with an unknown anamoly going around that could've done who-knows-what to Zelo, she really had no time to stand around and convince her friends that Project TWICE worked. What else was quite surprising is Zelo never questioned Jihyo's actions. He worried about her over-exerting herself, but that was about it.

They found themselves in a wide open square that had a fountain in the center. There really wasn't many good places to hide, so Jihyo started to feel panicked. "Dammit, we're screwed!"

But hope was not lost. Her eyes fell upon a poleroid booth in the distance, and she quickly pulled Zelo into that.

Jihyo released a sigh of relief, resting her head against Zelo's side.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"A poleroid booth." she replied. "It's where couples---uh, well..." she quickly adjusted her words, of course not just couples use these boothes. "It's a picture taking booth. You insert money and it takes your picture."

That made him smile. "Can we try?"

She laughed slightly, but considering they couldn't really go anywhere right now, it couldn't hurt. "Alright."

She inserted the fee and a bunch of settings appeared on the screen. She decided to choose single, classic poleroid images rather than the 4 picture strips. "Now we just do random poses and it'll take a shot."

"Like drinking?"

"Pfft hahaha!"

The first photo caught that laughing moment.

She shook her head. "No, lens capture."

He nodded in understanding.

Jihyo quickly linked arms with him for the second shot. "Oh my gosh, we're gonna look like such idiots when these print."

The process for starting the third shot seemed to delay. Jihyo sighed, "Ugh these things... don't tell me we're not going to get our money's worth. Haaa... this sucks. Sorry."

"Were you scared?"

She quickly looked at him. "Huh?"

"What happened earlier."

"Well, uh... yeah. I mean, you just collapsed, how was I supposed to feel? You could've..." she swallowed, focusing her eyes downward as she fiddled with the ends of her skirt. She couldn't even finish her sentence.

She cared a lot about him. He was sure of it. So he wanted to let her know he cared a lot too.

"Jihyo."

She lifted her head and turned his direction. It was embarrassing, a couple of tears managed to fall from her eyes, but she did her best to contain herself. After all, she must be over reacting, right?

Zelo placed his hand on her head and slowly slid down through her hair and caressed her cheek. Despite her broken feelings, the gesture made her smile warmly, even if only a little bit.

That's when the third shot finally processed.

Then....

... he closed his eyes, slowly moving toward her face...

... and _kissed her._

The sensation came as a shock to Jihyo. Instinctly, her eyes shut, and for a moment she forgot the world around her. It admittedly felt so nice; the warmth of his lips against hers with a slight bit of moisture to them. Immediately her mind wondered how safe whatever the sythentic material used to mimic saliva was... not what one should normally think while being kissed, that's for sure.

It wasn't a simple one either.

Sure, it wasn't extremely dramatic where passerbys would screech to get a room, but it certainly wasn't a childish little peck either.

It lasted a couple seconds before they parted briefly and he kissed her again with a little more passion.

That's when the final shot was taken.

Zelo smiled happily after he pulled away from her. Jihyo was speechless, her eyes as wide as a startled infant. "U-Umm.." she turned away in embarassment, placing the tips of her fingers on her lips. _'Did that just happen?'_

Suddenly, the drapes were pulled back, revealing Nayeon and Hoseok standing there. "Oh thank goodness, we found you!"

"Come on, we ran into the general and we need to leave." Hoseok told them.

"A-Ah, sure, sure." Jihyo stumbled out of the booth, quickly grabbing the poleroids from the return slot before anyone sees.

"What were you guys doing, anyway?" Hoseok asked.

"N-Nothing." Jihyo quickly said, hiding the poleroids behind her back.

This made him suspicious, and when he saw how happy and satisfied Zelo appeared, he realised the android beat him to what he really should have done with Nayeon already. _An android._

"Guys, um, we better get back to the van." Nayeon urged. "It looks like we didn't lose them either..."

Jihyo sighed. "Just my luck, of course."

Quickly, they picked up the pace and followed Hoseok to find the van. By the time Mina and Jeongyeon had reached the booth, they were out of sight.

"Dammit!" Mina stomped her foot. "We couldn't save her..."

"Mina, there's _nothing_ to save her from."

"Oh yeah? Then how come during her regular shifts, I haven't seen her at the convenience store?"

"Perhaps her shifts changed. Ever think of that?"

"That can't be it. I know something deeper is up." just then, her eyes fell upon the photobooth. Jihyo had accidentally had _copies_ checkmarked, and although she took the photos before she left, the copies printed a little later. "What's this?"

"Ewww, don't look at those." Jeongyeon moaned. "You know what some people do in there."

Mina gasped. "Jeongyeon. Come here."

Reluctantly, she did just that, crossing her arms. "Yeah, what?"

"Awww..." Mina couldn't help but feel her heart melt. "It's Jihyo and that tall boy."

The first image was when she laughed at Zelo's comment, the second was when they linked arms, the third... Mina paused.

"Ooh, this _does_ seem interesting." Jeongyeon pulled the photo closer to get a better look. "Haha, they look like they're about to--"

Then they saw the fourth photo. "Whoa!"

"Haaa...!" Mina had to cover her mouth to contain her squealing. "I was right, I knew it all along. Jeongyeon." she held this photo and waved it in her face. "You cannot deny this incriminating evidence. Jihyo _has_ a boyfriend!"

"Congrats on your deduction, Detective Mina." Jeongyeon said in both a teasing and sarcastic tone.

"Still, why wouldn't she tell us? That kinda hurts."

"Didn't you say she'll tell us when she's ready? Gosh, you're so contradicting."

* * *

 

Prior to finding where Jihyo and Zelo went, back at the karaoke building, Himchan had found a safe nook to send out a call to Mato.

"It's General Himchan!" the boy who answered gave him a salute. "This is Taeseon, commanding officer of TRCNG."

"Sumin, officer of SONAMOO, also present!" said the girl next to him.

"Where's the Governor?"

"She had some business." Sumin replied.

"We can relay any messages you have for her." Taeseon said.

Himchan sighed. It'd be better if he spoke directly to her. Not that he didn't trust his commanding juniors, it's just that this was a very serious matter. "Joko detected an unusual electrical anamoly that appears to be unrelated to Earth technology. It caused Totomato to go into emergency shutdown."

The two gasped, quickly taking note of the urgency. Himchan continued, "Tell the Governor to call me as soon as she can. I'm pretty sure this was of _exo_ tic nature."

"Affirmative, General." Sumin saluted again.

They were about to hang up until... "Wait."

The two stood by.

"Make sure she gets proper rest and is eating well."

The two nodded, and the call ended. Himchan slightly caressed the screen, saying in a low voice, "Take care of yourself, Hyoseong."

"Himchan." Yongguk found him. "Youngjae can't find anything else."

He nodded. "Let's just research what we've managed at home."

Sometime after they left the building is when they ran into Hoseok and Nayeon. Surely Jihyo would be in for another scolding for her impulsive retreat, but her silly behavior regarding her friends was trivial compared to the dire situation they were in now.

Before they made it back to the van, someone accidentally collided into Zelo and Jihyo. They fell backwards, and being as protective as he is, Zelo purposely cushioned Jihyo's fall.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the guy bowed in apology, tapping Zelo's hand.

Zelo looked at his hand oddly when that happened. If he were human, he would've felt an uncomfortable static sting. All his system was able to pick up was the presense of static that was gone in an instant.

"Ah, no worries, we're kind of in a hurry, so it was probably our fault. I'm sorry." Jihyo told him. She quickly took Zelo's hand and they got out of there, piling into the van and driving off.

That man they ran into smirked, standing up and speaking into a device that was disguised as a wrist watch. "Target has been intercepted. The anomaly has been injected."

"Excellent work, Chen. You and Xiumin know what to do."

"You won't be disappointed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Because Taeseon and Sumin are the leaders of their respective groups, I made them the commanding officers of their units. I did not use the term 'General' because I wanted them to rank lower and have to answer to Himchan, being the only General on Mato (his only superior being the Governor herself).  
> \- The one Chen was speaking to on his calling device was Baekhyun. So the EXO unit that is on Earth is CBX.


	12. CH11: Malware

To say everyone was a little shaken up by today's events would be an understatement.

Nayeon was extremely late for work and had to leave, and Hoseok decided to go home. General Himchan anxiously awaited a reply from the Governor whilst Youngjae worked tirelessly on examining the data he picked up from the karaoke room. Jongup decided to relax and watch subbed anime that happened to be playing on the television, and Daehyun indulged himself with food while randomly singing lyrical lines he learnt from the radio.

And Jihyo? Well, what happened in the poleroid booth left her without words. He had to have seen it on TV, she thought. Clearly his idea of why people kiss was misconstrued. Zelo is a robot, he isn't capable of romantic feelings.... is he?

Groaning to herself, Jihyo began viciously scratching her head in frustration. This only drew curious looks from Yongguk, who already had to deal with the mere thought of an existing threat to his precious android. "What are you doing?"

"H-Huh?" Jihyo halted her action and quickly got up on her feet. "Ah, well, I uh..."

"Let me see those."

"See what?"

He gestured to the poleroids in her hand. "Zelo said you took photos together."

 _'Ah, crap!'_ she wanted to cry right now. Why was she cursed with such bad luck?

Yongguk was getting impatient. "Earthian."

She flinched, shutting her eyes tightly and presenting the poleroids to him. Avoid eye contact at all costs.

Ripping the pictures from her hand, he slowly browsed through them. They looked innocent enough, until he found the last one. So that's why she's acting this why. Sighing, he was aware how impressionable his android was. As a robot, there were just some things he couldn't comprehend the difference.

"U-Um, I... have a question?" Jihyo spoke in a nervous tone of voice. "The synthetic used for his saliva isn't toxic, is it?"

He looked at her weird. _"That's_ what you were thinking when he kissed you?"

Now she felt even more embarrassed. Well, it's not everyday a girl is kissed by an android, what else should she think? Pretty sure other girls might have been terrified.

Yongguk sighed. "It's not that different than what your mouth produces."

She sighed in relief.

"And just so you know, like is like to him. So don't take it too seriously."

After handing her back the photos, Yongguk went over to Youngjae to see how his research was going.

Jihyo continued standing there, slowly going through the poleroids again. She tried to fight it, but her lips broke an ever so slight smile looking over them.

"Jihyo!"

Zelo came up from behind her, locking her in an embrace. She nearly lost balance, but he strongly held her in place. He tried to kiss her cheek, but she suddenly pulled away.

This made him a little sad. "I'm sorry, I thought you liked it."

"Eheh... I-I didn't say..."

He smiled. "Okay."

And then he surprised her with another full _kiss on the lips._

After that, he told her it was time for him to sleep (which meant returning inside his bunny plush for recharge) and disappeared into her room. Jihyo was still shocked by his action just now. She balled her hand and started lightly knocking on her head, "He's just a robot, Jihyo, remember, _a robot."_

* * *

 

"Governor!"

Hyoseong was walking down the hall of Mato's main base until she heard a voice. "Ah, Taeseon~"

He bent over, trying to catch his breath with Sumin appearing only seconds later. This was making Hyoseong feel a little worried, "What's wrong?"

"General Tatsmato called." Sumin said. "It's an urgent matter concerning some kind of electrical anamoly."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"Something caused Totomato into emergency shutdown, and it wasn't Earth-related technology." Taeseon explained. "He's requested you call him immediately, he thinks it's _exo_ tic in nature."

She nodded. "Of course, thank you."

"Oh, one more thing!"

Hyoseong stopped in her tracks when Taeseon said that.

"He also told us to tell you to get plenty of rest and eat well."

A weird smile pulled at her lips upon hearing that. Once she found somewhere private, she pulled out her calling device...

... only for no connection to be made.

* * *

 

The next day arrived.

Himchan was frustrated that the governor didn't call him as requested. "Tch, does she understand how urgent this is?"

"General." Youngjae came up to him. "It's going to take a lot longer to decode this, but um... it's obvious this was created by ones we haven't met before."

"I say we scout them out." said Yongguk.

Sighing, Himchan had to agree. "Alright. We'll scour the city in pairs."

"I'll go alone." he nods his head toward Jihyo. "Zelo should stay here to protect the Earthian."

Himchan couldn't argue with that. After all, whatever that electrical wave was proved harmful to Zelo anyway, so it's best he doesn't tag along. "Fine. Youngjae goes with Daehyun and Jongup comes with me."

With that said, everyone got ready and marched out of the building. Now only Jihyo and Zelo remained.

It felt a little awkward now, so Jihyo quickly said something. "Umm... I guess we have to stay inside." she sighed. "This is boring, I'm bored already."

"We could do something fun, like play a game or..." Zelo's eyes looked around the room, then he pointed. "What's on your computer? I haven't seen you use it for awhile."

"Oh, that. Haha." she laughed a little. "That's Project TWICE. I can send signals out into space."

"Is that how you first talked to the General?"

She nodded. "Feels so long ago... but it's only been over a week in reality. Here." she walked over there and got in her chair. "Want to see how it works?"

Zelo followed, standing behind Jihyo. He had to crouch down and lean forward a bit.

After Jihyo typed in her password, she quickly pulled out her modem chord. "According to Youngjae, my computer isn't secure."

"He's right."

Jihyo puffed up her cheeks in a pout, knowing she needed to get a handle on that. "Yeah, well the net isn't needed for TWICE's main function. I programmed special codes that I keep in this folder, and then over here is the folder I keep a bunch of logs for each day since I started. It wasn't until day 101 that I succeeded in making contact."

"You really set this up yourself?" Zelo was curious, so he ran his hand across the top of the computer. He was able to access and see everything inside. "You modified this machine. It should not have been capable to do what you did. You're very smart, Jihyo."

"Everyone else thinks I'm insane..." she started to feel a bit melancholy, lowering her head. "...especially my friends. It was... a bit discouraging. Having no one behind you. It was very lonely."

"But you're not lonely anymore, right?"

A small smile broke across her lips. "No, I'm not. My dream came true."

* * *

 

There was no one more worried about these Exotics than Yongguk, it wasn't just a threat that jeopardized B.A.P's mission. This wasn't the first time they've tried to compromise Zelo's system. He wasn't going to let them ever succeed in doing so. The fact that the sky decided to be overcast and paint the world in dull colours wasn't helping his mood right now.

When Himchan stated they hardly knew anything about them, he wasn't kidding. Most of the knowledge they knew was they drew some kind of essence that give them special abilities, many of which are elemental in nature.

"Bang Yongguk."

He stopped in his tracks at the sound of a stranger's voice. There was a man standing there, smirking. "That's what you're called on Earth, right... _Shishimato?"_

An Exotic. He knew for certain this was one of them. And unfortunately, one nobody has met before. While he didn't know now, he would later remember him as _Chen._

"Mato's fiercest killer... you don't even deserve that title. You've never killed anything _sentient."_

Yongguk was getting irritated. "What the hell do you want?"

"You know damn well what we're after." he replied, a more serious expression gracing his features. "But it's broken. So we need the power source enabled to fix it."

Ah, so they were looking for the same thing. It wasn't surprising in the least. Still, Yongguk stood his ground and remained silent. He wasn't going to let them know they hadn't found it either.

Chen sighed. "To be honest, you guys should be easy to take down, but there's a problem."

"Tch. Your magic being drained?"

He seethed. While they wouldn't so much call it 'magic', there was some truth in his words. Their connection was weakened, and the strength of their abilities were currently sporadic.

Yongguk smirked. "Right on target."

That didn't matter. Chen still held an ace up his sleeve. That ace would be the small, black device he was holding in his hand right now. "It sucks your stupid robot can't natively connect or receive signals without holding an external device, a device _you_ destroyed when you got sick of your governor trying to upload mission data."

What the hell...? Have they been intercepting some of their transmissions?

Chen wore a devious smirk and chuckled lightly. "What'd you call him again... Zelo, I think? He's been a freakin' road block every damn time. Can't seem to destroy him, so might as well make him useful."

And with that, he pushed the button.

* * *

 

"Nn..." Zelo looked at his right wrist for a moment before closing his eyes and putting it to his forehead.

"Well, that's pretty much it. Not very inter--" Jihyo noticed Zelo's odd behaviour. "Hey, are you...?"

He shook his head.

Shoot, not again... Jihyo instinctively got out of her chair, rushing to the bathroom.

...then she stopped herself, facepalming. "Haha... he's a robot, Jihyo, first aid isn't going to do anything... "

"Jihyo."

She focused her attention back to him. He didn't seem to be holding his head anymore, so she smiled. "Haha, don't scare me like! I wasn't exactly taught the means how to treat you."

He said nothing. He just stood there with a blank, empty expression. That didn't seem right.

"Zelo?"

"What are we looking for?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"

"What is it... the thing to fix the _spectrum."_

What was he talking about? She was starting to feel nervous. "I-I don't know what you're---"

Zelo reached inside his pocket and pulled something out. With the flick of his wrist, a blade appeared. Jihyo nearly screamed, jumping a step back.

* * *

 

"It was difficult, but I was able to intercept him directly with a small charge." Chen held up two of his fingers tightly together and you could see electrical sparks emit from it. "He'll report back to me when he obtains the nescessary information, and will show _no mercy_ to get it."

Yongguk's eyes widened in horrified shocked. "Jihyo..."

"Go ahead." Chen's eyes narrowed. "Kill me. But you won't."

"You're right. I won't kill you." Yongguk quickly pulled an electrical gun from his side and shot him several places in his legs.

"Tch... dammit!" he fell on his side, curling up in the fetal position and brushing his hands over the several blood spots appearing on his pants.

Now that he had been rendered defenseless, Yongguk quickly sprinted back toward the apartment.

* * *

 

"Zelo, what's going on?" Jihyo nervously asked. She was slowly walking backward as he approached forward, until her back was up against the wall.

"The General told you about the mission. I saw you leave."

"Y-Yeah...?" That was a week ago though.

Zelo lightly slid his finger across the blade, like he was testing if it was sharp enough. "He told you about the mission. I want to know what he told you."

"But... you already know the mission!"

"The General keeps some things confidential. I only know what I'm supposed to know."

She shook her head. "No, that can't be right. You guys came to Earth to find a power source to save your dying planet. There's no way he--"

"But what are we looking for?"

How could he not know what they're looking for? Then again, Himchan didn't seem a hundred percent sure what it was either, he just knew it was _here._

Outside the door happened to be Nayeon and Hoseok coming to visit. Jihyo had given her the passcode so she could enter the apartment any time she wanted.

Hoseok sighed. "You could've just called or--"

"No, I want to talk about it directly." Nayeon punched in the code, feeling distraught. It concerned a situation at her job.

"You just want to stare at the general..." he muttered.

As soon as the door opened, Zelo lunged at Nayeon, but Hoseok quickly grabbed her out of the way, slamming the door shut.

Nayeon was so panicked, she was about to cry. "What just happened?!"

Hoseok was shaking. "I don't know..."

"But Jihyo's in there!"

He nodded. They had to do something, but when he tried to open the door, it was jammed. "Type in the passcode again!"

Nayeon quickly did just that, but it was rejected. On the other end, Zelo ran his hand down the wall and was able to access the panel and change the password so they couldn't get in.

Jihyo felt like she couldn't breathe. No matter how much air she tried to intake, it was like she couldn't get enough. That wasn't Zelo... it couldn't be.

In mere moments, Zelo was right up to her again. There was no way she could escape. If she tried, she knew he had the upperhand. He was a robot, after all. Can't feel pain, can't feel fatigue, can't feel _anything_ probably. Trying to escape may cause her more harm. Really, it was damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Meanwhile, General Himchan along with Jongup were the first to return. He was a little confused to see Nayeon and Hoseok there. "What's going on?"

"Zelo malfunctioned or something." Hoseok told him.

"Jihyo's trapped inside!" Nayeon cried.

"What?!" Himchan quickly turned to the door and tried to open it.

Not long after, Youngjae and Daehyun also came back. "General, I'm sorry, but we couldn't--" he stopped. "General?"

"Break the door." Himchan commanded.

Jongup nodded, accepting the command. With all his strength, he threw himself at the door, but he was thrown back. "Nnng...!"

"That didn't seem normal." Daehyun commented.

Youngjae pulled out his tablet. "Of course... he's using a force field..."

Himchan seethed. "Disable it."

"This type of encryption could take forever to pull apart. Only an adminstrator can reverse it."

Yongguk finally made it back. Panting, he looked up the stairs and saw everybody standing outside. This wasn't good...

* * *

 

"Where is it... what are we looking for?" Zelo repeated. He was like a broken record, no matter what she said, he kept asking the same question over and over again. "He told you about the spectrum, right? Why wouldn't he tell you about the most vital thing?"

"Maybe 'cause I'm just an Earthian, he doesn't want me to know too much." That's all she could say. She had no information to give.

"You know what we're looking for... the spectrum is vital, but it's broken. I want to know how it works. _You're going to tell me."_ he took the knife and started to slide down the lower half of her left arm, pulling it away before reaching her wrist. Despite not being a deep incision, the pain caused her to cry and it was enough to draw blood.

That was when the door burst open. Yongguk successfully deactivated the shield, and was horrified at what he saw.

However...

...Zelo's hand started shaking and he dropped the knife. He took a couple steps backward, looking a bit confused and disoriented. "Error 1004.... terminating _violation_...."

Then he collapsed.

Jihyo put her hand to her mouth, gasping. Jongup quickly ran over to her to try and calm her down. "Jihyo, it's going to be okay. We're here now."

Yongguk went over and knelt beside Zelo, running his hand through his hair. He sighed, feeling completely torn that someone managed to do this to him. "Error 1004..." he doesn't remember a protocol by that number.  "Jongup, help me carry him to the couch."

"Oh, uh..." he looked at Jihyo, patting her head before doing as told.

"Daehyun. Get the first aid." Himchan commanded.

He nodded, running to the bathroom to get it. Himchan immediately took some water and began cleaning Jihyo's wound whilst she softly continued to sob.

Nayeon and Hoseok were still standing outside. It was disheartening what they witnessed. Nayeon ran over to Jihyo and wrapped her arms around her. Hoseok took a couple steps inside and couldn't keep his eyes off Zelo as he was carried to the couch. He felt bad for him... it didn't matter that he was a robot, he hated seeing this. Sure, it was annoying how perceptive he was sometimes, but... he liked to think that Zelo was his friend.

"Please run a diagnostics." Yongguk told Youngjae, almost pleading.

He nodded, wrapping something around Zelo's wrist and attaching it to his tablet.

Conveniently, after Himchan was done wrapping up Jihyo's arm, his calling device sounded. He stepped aside and answered.

"Haaa... I finally reached you!" the governor sighed in relief. "The weather must be terrible, my calls wouldn't go through. You're alright, hm?"

Himchan felt a bit choked up. It all made sense now, why she didn't call. "You should be worrying about yourself, Governor."

"Huh? Wait... I hear background crying. Someone is crying. Kim Himchan, what's going on?"

He swallowed. "Jihyo is injured."

"The Earthian?"

He nodded.

She put her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, this mission is a disaster. I should never have sent you, maybe it's time you return."

He shook his head. "Mato needs us to find the power source, or we'll be unable to protect ourselves."

Her face paled. "They already found you. How? What happened?"

"Zelo has been compromised."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Chen's ability in EXO is Lightning.  
> \- 'Spectrum' is a song by TRCNG, so I thought it'd be cool to reference as a Mato power source.  
> \- '1004' references the song by B.A.P, but the error's meaning has nothing to do with the lyrics.  
> \- Note that '1004' in Korean sounds like their word for 'Angel'.


	13. CH12: Trauma

By nightfall, Youngjae was able to purge the anomaly from Zelo's system and create an anti-virus code against it. Luckily, there appeared to be no corruption to any of his data; the anomaly was simply an execution of malicious instructions. Whether or not the memory of the event was stored was questionable, as the malicious instruction probably shutdown basic protocols.

One mystery remained, however.... _Error 1004._ This protocol could not be found, both before and after purging the anomaly. Yongguk knew Zelo's system inside and out, including any modifications he allowed Youngjae to install. There was no protocol listed under that number. In fact, he didn't even have _half_ that number of protocols. There was only one thing Yongguk was sure of... Error 1004 was the only reason Jihyo wasn't mangled right now.

"He's safe to turn back on." Youngjae declared. "General, let the Governor know he will no longer be a threat."

Himchan nodded, proceeding to do just that.

"He's really going to be fine?" Hoseok asked.

"I've erased every last trace of the Exotic malware and created an anti-virus. This won't happen again."

"He's rebooting." Yongguk told them.

"I'll bring Jihyo." he went over to her room to fetch her.

That's right... Jihyo. How was she feeling right now?

_Traumatised._

She was traumatised.

She was curled up on her bed, eyes puffy from crying. Nayeon sat on her bedside to keep her company.

"Jihyo?" she gently started rubbing her upper back. "It's going to be OK now, they'll fix Zelo... I know they will. He'll be fine, and so will you."

In the living room, Zelo was fully rebooted. He seemed to be functioning fine and was confused how he ended up on the couch.

"Emergency shutdown." Yongguk told him.

"Oh..." he cranned his neck a bit to the side, searching his memory data. After detecting anomaly and seeing Jihyo get up from her chair, his vision cut off like a disconnected security cam. There appeared to be a fragmented recording, but it was unplayable, so he internally began a restoration process in the background to see if he can access it.

That's when he saw Jihyo emerging from her room, being escorted by Youngjae.

He immediately smiled, standing up to greet her. "Jihyo!"

Zelo was OK, he was normal! She felt so happy, she could cry. In fact, she could feel the moisture build up in her eyes right now. She just wanted to run up and hug him, but as soon as she charged forward...

...she halted.

She looked off to the side, trying to avoid eye contact. Why'd she feel so anxious all of a sudden?

Zelo became concerned. "What's wrong, Jihyo?"

That's when his eyes fell upon her arm wrapped in bandages. He took her hand and stared in analysis, sliding his hand to assess the injury's severity. She tried her hardest to resist crying, but flashbacks of the knife slicing her skin assaulted her brain. "Please...stop it..." she violently pulled out of his grip. _"Don't hurt me!"_

He stepped back in shock, eyes wide. He was confused. Why was she afraid of him?

"Aheh..." she laughed nervously through her tears. "S-Sorry, it's just... still very sensitive."

"What happened? Why are you hurt?"

That's when the restoration process completed. He put his hand over his left eye and the fragmented data played what was salvagable. What he saw caused him to stammer back a couple steps, almost losing balance as he processed that information.

He slowly removed his hand, looking at Jihyo with a nearly blank stare. His eyes filled with moisture and even started to stream down, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Jihyo...I... I didn't..." Zelo's lips quivered, unable to finish his sentence. He tried to reach for her, but she winced, causing him to pull back.

Jihyo was scared of him. Even if she didn't want to be.

Zelo stepped back, falling backward onto the sofa and saying nothing. He couldn't handle that memory, knowing he hurt her, but even more so the fact she didn't want to come near him. It... _hurt._

While trying to steady her breathing, Jihyo quickly said, "U-Um, I better get some rest... I'm just sleepy."

Looking at Youngjae and giving a slight bow, she excused herself, heading back to her room. Zelo tried to get back up to follow her (since he usually resided in his bunny vessel in her room) but Yongguk grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to sit back down.

"Not tonight." he told him.

* * *

 

"Dammit!"

Chen wreathed in pain from his bleeding wounds Yongguk left him with. "I wish Lay were here, then I wouldn't have to endure this."

"Hey, I cleaned and disinfected best I could, you'll live." Xiumin assured him, popping mini marshmellows in his mouth as he sat down.

Just then, the door opened, revealing Baekhyun with a paper bag of groceries. He entered the cramped apartment that was dimly lit, only to be taken aback by Chen reeling on the floor. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Mato's _fiercest killer_ happened." Chen's tone was sarcastic and seething. Clearly he was pissed.

Baekhyun sighed, setting the paper bag on top of the table. "So I take it your planned failed?"

Chen bit his lip, seething again. "No... well... it wouldn't have failed, but something happened."

"Enlighten me."

"It cut off, the anomaly. Somehow that robot _blocked it."_

"How? I thought it was supposed to override his usual protocols."

"It was working." Xiumin chimed in. "It just _stopped working."_

"Right at the critical point, correct?"

Xiumin nodded.

Baekhyun sighed. "You said I wouldn't be disappointed, but I am. Got any better ideas?"

"One..." Chen struggled to sit up. "I'd like to avoid abduction of the _black pearl_ at all costs, if we can help it. That'll just cause a huge mess, one we don't need. I've got an alternative, but we need to convince Suho."

* * *

 

Nayeon and Hoseok decided to stay overnight at Jihyo's place considering what transpired.

While Nayeon had the comfortable option of sleeping beside Jihyo in her room, Hoseok wasn't so fortunate. Everyone else slept inside their bunny vessels, except Zelo, whom had to lie down on the sofa that could hardly fit him.

To keep the depressed robot company, Hoseok opted to sit on the floor and lay against the couch. He tried making conversation with Zelo, but it remained pretty one-sided for most of it. Jihyo wasn't the only one traumatised right now.

As dawn broke, Hoseok's eyes opened, becoming aware of how terribly achy his body felt right now. As he got up to stretch himself, he sees Zelo just staring at the ceiling like he was earlier.

"You didn't even go into sleep mode?"

He shook his head.

Hoseok sighed. Poor thing. This must be his version of being "unable to sleep".

"Haaaaa.....!"

That sound was coming from Nayeon, whom had just lazily dressed herself without even bothering to comb her hair, running out of Jihyo's room. "I need to get to work! Hoseok, take me to work!"

"I don't have the van with me." he told her.

"I know, I just need a walking partner. Please...?" she pleaded.

Sighing, he was admittedly weak to Nayeon's charm, and told her. "Fine."

"Yay!" she threw her arms around him. "Thank you so much~"

"Aheh...y-yeah...anytime." he blushed slightly.

Zelo was already sat up and witnessed the little spectacle. Hoseok noticed his sad face, which made him feel bad in turn. Did that make him think of Jihyo? Even so, the android managed a small smile at Hoseok anyway, since he knew how much he liked Nayeon.

It pained him seeing Zelo like this.

"Hey, Earth to Hoseok!" Nayeon started waving her hand in his face. "We gotta go!"

"Nn.. stop that!" he grabbed her wrist in annoyance, and she just started giggling. Sighing, he said, "let's go", and they exited the apartment.

Now Zelo was alone since everyone was still asleep.

And he felt alone.

* * *

 

Jeongyeon was by herself with a small convenience store bag in hand. Yes, she was without the presence of Mina this time.

Mina was just so caught up in those poleroids and couldn't shut up about it. She really wanted to interrogate Jihyo about who this boy was and if they're in a relationship. And Mina had the nerve to tell Jeongyeon that _she_ was pushing Jihyo away? Funny how the tables turn.

Regardless of what Jeongyeon felt about her stupid hobby, she still really cared about Jihyo. They've known each other since Junior High, and honestly, she wasn't sure how this all started... just one day Jihyo became obsessed with this interest and started to ask questions. Though perhaps that wasn't too much of a bad thing, it made her quite eccentric, but interesting.

All she wanted was for her to be alright. She missed hanging out with her. How long has it been now? What's going on with her? Like Mina, she was curious as well, but prying is gonna do nothing. Maybe if they approach her differently, she wouldn't run away from them. It hurt, having your best friend run away from you like that.

Putting her cell phone to her ear, she had dialed Jihyo's number. Of course it went to voicemail, but she expected that and left a message anyway. "Jihyo, this is Jeongyeon. I.... I know I haven't been... very supportive of you, and I.... I'm..." she paused a moment. "Look, I'm without Mina right now and I'm coming to your place to drop something off for you, okay? Talk to me when you're ready, but I'm gonna be knocking on the door. 'Kay, bye."

Climbing up the stairs, Jeongyeon stood in front of the door for a good 10 seconds. Exhaling a deep breath, she proceeded to knock on the door, waiting. She hoped she could see Jihyo this morning, even though she realistically knew the chances were low.

One more time.

_Knock knock._

She sighed. "Guess I'll just be leaving this here."

As she got ready to place the bag down, the door opened and she straighted back up. "Jihyo--"

Standing there was the tall boy with a bit of a melancholy look on his face.

"Oh, um..." Jeongyeon didn't know what to say, she didn't expect this. "Is Jihyo home?"

"She's asleep."

"She's still sleeping...?"

Zelo nodded slowly, his eyes more focused downward than at her. He seemed troubled by something.

"Um, I don't mean to pry, but..." Jeongyeon thought her words carefully. Honestly, she was wondering why the hell this boy was in her apartment, but she knew Jihyo better than that. She wasn't an inappropriate woman, so this was probably a friendly visit on the boy's part. "...is she OK?"

Zelo flinched a bit when she said that, looking even more sad. He slightly shook his head.

"Did something happen to her?!"

Of course something did... but Zelo can't tell her that. He wasn't an idiot, he knew how important the mission was and how details like that could compromise it. So he just said, "She wasn't feeling well. I hope she feels better."

Awww... she thought. The poor boy really did come over to visit her, huh? That's what she concluded.

Jeongyeon did her best to muster a smile, holding the bag out to him. "Could you give this to her for me? It's some of her favourite snacks... I wanted to cheer her up."

Zelo took it without question. This boy seemed kind of shy and quiet. As he was about to close the door, Jeongyeon quickly said, "O-One more thing! I promise!"

He stopped.

"Jihyo and I have been friends for awhile, and umm... I've never met you before, but you seem to make Jihyo really happy. I won't tell Mina or anything, but I'd like to know who you are?"

He stared, saying nothing. This was awkward.

"Aha, I should be fair, huh? My name is Yoo Jeongyeon. So, how about yours?"

He thought for a moment, then answered. "Choi Junhong."

She smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Choi Junhong. Please take good care of Jihyo."

With a wave, Jeongyeon went down the steps and left.

Zelo shut the door, but when he turned around, there was Jihyo--quietly leaving her room, frozen when their eyes met.

"Uh...aha..." she laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head. "G-Good morning, Zelo. Who was that?"

He held out the plastic back. "Your friend wants you to have this."

"Oh, o-okay." Jihyo cautiously took a few steps forward, but stopped. This confused Zelo a bit, and he tried reaching out the bag further, but...

He looked down in defeat and just left it on the counter, flopping himself back on the couch and staring at the ceiling.

Jihyo stared his direction for a bit, feeling her heart ache. She wanted to go over there. She wanted to hug him. _She wanted to be close to him._ But why was she shaking?

Biting the inside of her mouth in a feeble attempt to hold her tears in, she took the plastic bag and walked back to her room. Will she ever get over this? It's just temporary, right? All she needs is a few days, just a few days. And she'll recover. Just rehearse it in your head, Jihyo. Rehearse walking up to him. Then everything will be fine. You just have to do it in real life.

Falling backward on her bed, she wasted the rest of her time staring at the ceiling.

It's funny how they mirrored each other, in a way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Yes, I am having Xiumin eat marshmellow because of the adorable "marshmellow~" clip.  
> \- I unintentionally referenced two TWICE songs near the end, with those sentences "one more time" and "knock knock" lol.


	14. CH13: Angel

Himchan was sitting at the kitchen table as evening approached, intricately working on a personal project.

This wasn't normally something he'd spend his time on, but due to the threat of the Exotics and the chaos they have been causing to their mission, he felt implored to.

With small tools held in between his thumb and index finger, he had to be precise. He was working on a small pendant that was embedded with the defensive database, similar to what was installed in Zelo's programming. It was made of a black metal, fairly flat, and shaped into B.A.P's official symbol. It was already strung up on a chain, making it a necklace.

Daehyun wandered over there, curious what the general was working on. He didn't hear him come beside him, he just kept working as if nothing else in the world mattered. Daehyun's eyes widened in interest when he beheld the item. "Who's that for?"

"The Governor."

"But isn't that for betrothal--"

Himchan pulled Daehyun's mask back up, pushing his hand hard against his mouth.

Well, obviously that wouldn't shut him up for long, so as he continued to work, he told him this. "It's to protect her. There's a chip inside with all the exotic frequencies Youngjae has collected so far."

"Then why is there also a matching wrist-wrap?" Daehyun picked it up from the table.

Yanking it back, Himchan gave him the look of death and Daehyun knew he better back off if he valued his life.

Meanwhile, Jongup was trying to get Zelo to watch television with him.

"Come on, Zelo. Look." he pointed at the screen. "It's the drama you like."

Zelo shook his head, refusing to join him. He curled up as best he could at the end of the couch, looking depressed.

Jongup sighed. This wasn't good. It's already been 3 days after the incident and Jihyo was still nervous around Zelo. They hadn't had proper interaction since.

And it was not just Zelo suffering from this distance. It was Jihyo as well. Yes, she was the one avoiding him, but that was the dictation of her trauma. Something she's trying to fight but fails every time. And there's nothing more torturous than hiding from someone you care about when you desperately want to be near them.

"Zelo." Yongguk called his attention.

Even though he didn't want to get up, Zelo never defied his master's commands, and thus he got up from the sofa and came over.

It wasn't long after that the front door opened, revealing Youngjae, along with Jihyo, had returned home. Himchan had sent them out on a mission to search specific hotspots that showed up on their radar that could be the location of the power source they needed to save Mato.

Himchan stood up from his chair. "Report."

Youngjae sighed. "Nothing. It was like the hotspots went dead."

"What do you mean?"

"Something _was_ there... but it's gone."

Sighing, Himchan felt like they'd just walked into a wall. "We'll try again tomorrow. I don't care how long we have to stay on this planet to find it."

"Yes, General... huh?" Youngjae noticed Himchan's little project and picked it up. "Hey, isn't this for--"

"Tch..." Himchan swiped the necklace back with a glare, causing Youngjae to put his hands up.

Jihyo just stood there with wide eyes, a little confused why he got so pissed. However, she figured it was none of her business.

Feeling exhausted, she decided to excuse herself and head over to bed.

"You haven't even had dinner yet." Youngjae pointed out.

"Ah, it's fine, I'm really tired." Jihyo said in response.

"That's not right. You shouldn't sleep on an empty stomach." Daehyun told her.

"I could fix dinner this time." Jongup rose from the sofa, volunteering. "That way the general can finish his gift."

"Gift? Who's it for?" Jihyo was curious now.

"I'm not making a gift, it's for the Governor." Himchan replied.

"Why would it not be a gift, General?" Jongup questioned. "Aren't you going to ask her--"

"Go make the Earthian's meal!"

"Oh, okay."

"Aha, no really, I'm fine!" Jihyo insisted. "I feel too tired to be thinking about food, but thanks anyway!"

"Wow, Jihyo has a strong stomach." Daehyun commented whilst eating an apple. "I could never go to bed starving."

As Jihyo made her way to her room, she was taken aback when Yongguk emerged. He was holding Zelo's winder bunny vessel and holding it out to her. "Take this."

"U-Umm..." Jihyo's eyes widened and she could feel her body tremble.

"You'll always feel this way if you keep your distance." he told her. "He _won't_ hurt you. He's inside here."

She knew he was right. Nothing he said was wrong. So why was it so hard? All she could do was just lower her head, looking away. Sighing, Yongguk left the plush on her bed and told her to get some rest. She simply nodded as he left the room, closing the door behind him. Now she was essentially alone, or not really.

Cautiously, she slid onto the bed from its right side. Zelo's winder bunny was sat upon the pillow on the left side, which it normally was. Jihyo just stared at it as she laid on her side, wrapped underneath her blankets.

Why'd she feel so tense? Not long ago, merely just a few days before, she'd hold it close and sleep rather soundly, feeling protected. She needed this... Yongguk was right, if she continues to keep her distance, she'll never recover. And Jihyo didn't want to continue living like this.

Slowly, she reached her hand toward it. But the closer she got, the more anxiety she felt. Her heart rate increased and her hand started shaking.

"Nn...!" she pulled away, feeling her eyes sting with moisture. Guilt started stirring up in her stomach. She hated this, she hated this so much. Why was it so hard? Zelo was her friend, she knew what happened wasn't his fault. So _why?_

Again, she tried, but it only yielded the same result. Now she could feel an uncomfortable warmth envelope her eyes as tears began sliding off her cheek. Her lips quivered, grabbing her left arm with her right hand. She supresseed her anguish as much as she could so no one would hear her, crunching up into the fetal position as she cried herself to sleep....

* * *

 

Several hours past and it was late into the night. Jihyo had eventually fallen asleep, which she desperately needed to calm her vital signs. Zelo had woken up and stood at her bedside, looking at her.

He heard her crying earlier. He knew it was because he was there. It made him feel really sad. What hurt more than Jihyo not wanting to come near him was the fact he knew he was making her suffer. Jihyo's happiness was a top priority, but how can he keep her happy when he's the reason she's not?

He reached out his hand and gently stroked her hair, though immediately pulled back when she flinched a bit. He didn't want to wake her up.

As quietly as possible, he left the room. Everyone appeared to be asleep in their own vessels, except one: Yongguk. That was good, he needed to talk to him anyway. Yongguk always told Zelo that if something was bothering him, he should report to him immediately. The two stepped outside so their conversation wouldn't wake any of the others.

"It's about the Earthian, right?" Yongguk asked.

"Jihyo's still afraid of me. I didn't want to hurt her, I can't...I won't. She knows that, right? So why won't she come near me?"

He sighed. "That's a little hard to explain, but she actually doesn't want to keep her distance. It's just... very complicated."

"Why is it complicated? I will not hurt her, I can't. I don't like this... I miss her..." Zelo's eyes began to fill with moisture that he couldn't control. "Is this what pain feels like?"

Seeing Zelo suffer like this caused Yongguk, without thinking, to tightly embrace him in an attempt to calm him down. He held him tightly and told him, "Listen, the Earthian.... Jihyo.... she doesn't mean to avoid you. But humans, as a means of protection, can develope _trauma._ Think of it like a defense mechanism, a protocol to protect her from harm that unfortunately thinks is you. She wants to erase it too, but it takes time."

"What if I keep making her suffer?"

"You won't. What happened was not your fault."

"It still happened. I hurt her, but I can't."

Wait... what?

Yongguk let go and looked at him. "What do you mean you _can't?"_

"I..." he seemed hesitant now.

"Zelo, enter sleep mode."

"Huh?"

"Enter sleep mode. I need to check your _core protocols."_

"Affirmative."

And just like that, he closed his eyes and collapsed into sleep, but Yongguk caught him before he crashed to the ground.

He propped him up against a wall and tied a wire to his wrist. Yongguk was going to analyze his BIOS chip. Like in any computer, this worked as a startup, but Zelo's also had other special settings and protocols stored inside it. And since it is a ROM chip, it cannot be overwritten or infected by viruses. This way, none of these particular protocols could ever be violated, and they are the first to execute each time Zelo is awake.

Accessing this particular area was a little more tricky, and required an extra step of placing another device over the left side of Zelo's chest, since the BIOS is the _heart_ of a computer. A holographic image displayed from said device, reading and translating the data into understandable language. What he found astounded him.

"1004..." he read aloud, completely in disbelief. This was what conflicted with Chen's malware, this is what saved Jihyo.

* * *

 

Jihyo's eyes slowly opened, her eyes itchy from crying earlier. She just felt so terrible right now. It didn't matter what was logical, it didn't matter she knew it wasn't his fault... her trauma dictated otherwise. She couldn't get near Zelo without crying or panicking.

Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and turned on the lamp, feeling the light sting briefly before having her eyes fall upon a set of poleroids.

Embarrassed she left those out, she quickly grabbed them, about to shove them into her drawer, but...

... she closed the draw back up, and looked over them.

Why can't things be like this again? Once she reached the last one, she could feel her cheeks warm up awkwardly. Too embarrassed, she slipped the poleroids into her draw. She still wonders what went on in his head, certainly it wasn't romantic feelings, but.... _they were still precious feelings._

Turning her head, she noticed the winder bunny laid on its side. Probably her occasional movement on the bed caused it to fall.

Zelo was her friend, perhaps the best friend she's had in a long time. He needed know that. Therefore, while she had to force herself, she grabbed the bunny and held it close to her. Her heart was pounding, but she ignored that. After all, nothing bad happened. She held it in front of her and tightly closed her eyes, giving it a little kiss.

Suddenly, she could hear the front door open, which caused her to set the bunny aside and see what was going on. She paused when she saw Yongguk enter with Zelo behind him. Shoot, he wasn't with her then!

Their eyes met briefly for a moment, before Zelo lowered his head and wandered off to the couch.

"Earthian." Yongguk gestured with his index finger to follow him. "I need to talk to you."

Jihyo intook a deep breath and nodded. She wasn't going to argue.

They went off somewhere to the side, and she sat next to him.

"You remember what Zelo said before he shutdown?"

She didn't want to think about that day, but it was rather strange. "Error 1004, I think."

"I didn't write any protocol under that number, and we couldn't find it in his system before and after erasing the exotic malware. So what was it?" he looked thoughtful for a moment. "No inquiries under my or Youngjae's name brought up anything either. I got suspicious Zelo somehow self-installed his own programming, but nothing under his name came up either... so I manually checked his most important protocols inside his BIOS."

He pulled out a device in his pocket, pressing a button that caused a holograhic chart to appear. "This is what I found."

Jihyo looked at the hologram with awe. So this is what his BIOS programming looked like? It seemed a lot more important and complex than just a startup, like in normal computers. She had to laugh at some of the obvious protocols in there, such as staying loyal to Yongguk's commands. But then he pointed to the foreign protocol... "This is 1004."

She took a closer look. There was a programmer's notation underneath the protocol's name. "Choi... Junhong?"

"He used his original Earthian name the governor gave him. This made inquiry more difficult."

Huh, that's weird, she thought.

"Keep reading."

There were some numbers and formulas she couldn't quite understand, but the notations explained everything. "Protect Jihyo. Do not cause harm to Jihyo. Make Jihyo happy...?"

Yongguk took her hand and placed his other one over the bandaged injury. "Hurting you was in direct violation of this special protocol, which is why he forced himself to shutdown to terminate the malware's execution."

She felt Yongguk's hand gently rub her injured arm and tears started welling up in her eyes. but he wasn't done yet, there was one thing left to explain.

"I was trying to figure out why he chose 1004. He doesn't have half that many... then I realised it was a special codename." he looked at her. "Your language, 1004 sounds like 'angel'."

"Nn..!"

Jihyo put her fist to her mouth, feeling hot tears stream down her cheek. Now she felt even worse. All this time, even in that state, he protected her. How he was able to self-install upon a ROM-chip probably required much more explanation (which Yongguk happened to have figured out), but that wasn't the point. 1004 was a permanent mandate inside Zelo's BIOS, in other words... she was written inside his _heart._

Standing up, she quickly bowed in gratitude and went to the sofa that Zelo was occupying. She stood there and he looked up at her. She tried to say something, but couldn't muster any words. He could tell she was tense and started to look sad again. "I'll sit somewhere else."

"No!"

As Zelo was about to stand up, Jihyo pushed him back down. The action surprised both of them.

"U-Um...I..."

Jihyo really didn't know what to say. What do you do in this kind of situation?

The memory from the poleroid booth flashed in her mind. At first, she wanted to banish that thought, but suddenly realised something. Though his idea of kissing may be misconstrued, it was a way to show he cared and he'd probably understand it in the same context from her.

So, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and...

_... kissed him._

She thought of nothing else but to transmit her feelings in this moment, but admittedly nearly got lost with how nice it felt too. When their lips parted, she smiled through her tears, saying "I feel _safest_ with Zelo."

That caused him to smile too. So much so that he pulled her toward him, which unfortunately caused her to twirl a bit and lose balance. She fell into his lap, which caused her to giggle uncontrollably. It was such a sweet sound to hear, and Zelo couldn't help but to hold her tightly. It was nice, having her so close to him again.

Yongguk stood in the kitchen with his arms crossed, witnessing the spectacle. A small smile pulled at his lips to see them happy and having so much fun.

Zelo truly amazed him. With what and how his BIOS chip was made, it's a pain to install anything onto it, for good reason. And he didn't disobey any commands self-programming onto it either. In fact, it was a brilliant loophole. "You'll protect the Earthian, right?" is something Yongguk had said to him, during their conversation of why he liked her. He took that as an OK for the protocol's existence. Clever.

Jihyo was clever too. "I feel safest with Zelo" was a mirrored response to something Zelo said sometime ago. "Jihyo feels safest with me."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- The BIOS literally is known as a computer's 'heart' because it is the first thing to come to life when your computer boots up (though the BIOS in this case I made a little more complex with extra things about it).   
> \- In Korean, the word for '1004' sounds like 'angel' which is why B.A.P's song title is stylised "1004 (Angel)" and is often just referred to as "Angel". So I thought it'd make a cute term of endearment.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Together(?)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15788493) by [CelesteFitzgerald](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelesteFitzgerald/pseuds/CelesteFitzgerald)
  * [Next Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15788583) by [CelesteFitzgerald](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelesteFitzgerald/pseuds/CelesteFitzgerald)
  * [My Name](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15788715) by [CelesteFitzgerald](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelesteFitzgerald/pseuds/CelesteFitzgerald)




End file.
